Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 8, 1993 TAG: 9306080089
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Mark Gearan, 36, who has served as deputy chief of staff, will replace George Stephanopoulos as coordinator of press and public relations for the White House.
Gergen said that he hopes the move will allow the Clinton administration to "turn a page" in its relations with the media and with the public. He said that the administration's accomplishments had been obscured by coverage of its mistakes and he expressed hope that a personnel shuffle can help get its message across better.
Gergen's appearance lent considerable weight to an announcement that ordinarily would be of interest chiefly to the White House press corps and Washington insiders. Gergen, who advised three Republican presidents on policy and communications, noted that the 52-person communications office will report to him and that he reports solely to the president.
Gergen said that he will attend all substantive meetings on administration policy and that his new position puts him "at the intersection of politics, policy and communications" in the White House.
"That's what the role of counselor is about," said Gergen, 51.
Gergen's standing thus equals or surpasses that of White House Chief of Staff Thomas "Mack" McClarty, a former natural gas company executive from Little Rock, Ark., who has been a friend of President Clinton's since the two attended kindergarten together in Hope, Ark. It also adds another senior aide with direct access to the president and spreads Clinton's horizontal organization chart even wider.
Gergen, a former Republican who now describes himself as a right-of-center political independent, joins Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice President Al Gore in the innermost White House circle of advisers.
Gergen said Monday that there will be other high-level personnel shifts or new hires announced later this week. It is expected that a second deputy to McLarty will be brought aboard to join Roy Neel, who recently moved over from Gore's staff to add experience and discipline to the White House.
He also said that, despite Clinton's early fumbles, the White House is not in disarray or abject retreat. He reminded reporters that he was on the White House staff in 1973-74, when former President Nixon was brought down by the Watergate scandal.
"I've seen worse, and so have you," Gergen said.
Stephanopoulos, who suffered from increasingly bad blood with the news media, will move into a small office near the Oval Office and serve as a behind-the-scenes senior policy adviser to Clinton.
Gergen said that Gearan brought "credibility as well as friendliness" to his new job. Gearan said he will bring a "sense of humility" to his new post.
A former executive director of the Democratic Governors Association and spokesman for the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis, Gearan so far has enjoyed cordial relations with the press.
by CNB