ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 8, 1993                   TAG: 9306080102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium


BABBITT LOOKS LIKELY FOR COURT

The White House has launched a search for a new Interior Department secretary, underscoring the likelihood that Secretary Bruce Babbitt will be selected to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, administration sources said Monday.

Meanwhile, environmentalists, who worked last December to secure Babbitt's appointment at Interior, began lobbying the White House in earnest Monday to keep Babbitt in place.

"We're extremely concerned," said Fred Krupp, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund.

"The environmental community fought hard to get Bruce Babbitt as secretary of the Interior because it is critical to have someone of his stature and caliber not only in the Department of Interior but in the Cabinet," Krupp said. "To lose him from both places would be a devastating loss."

White House officials described Clinton as extremely concerned about the political implications of losing Babbitt at Interior. As his popularity sags in the South, they said, Clinton has concluded he needs to maintain his support in the Western states most affected by Interior policies, pointing to former President Carter's loss of the West during his re-election campaign as a cautionary example.

As a result, they cautioned, Babbitt's selection is not a done deal. However, several officials said they would be surprised if Babbitt is not selected and that in the scheme of things, the lifetime court position is more important.

An announcement about the court appointment is expected toward the end of the week. Sources said the other leading candidate is federal Appeals Court Judge Stephen Breyer of Boston.

In a sign of the administration's seriousness about Babbitt, however, Babbitt met at the Interior Department on Sunday night with personnel director Bruce Lindsey, White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum, and congressional liaison Howard Paster to review his background, administration sources said.

During the 1988 presidential campaign, then-candidate Babbitt opposed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, calling Bork's approach to interpreting the Constitution "a miserly and constricted assessment of the highest law of the land."

Babbitt supports abortion rights. As Arizona governor he vetoed a law requiring parental consent for minors seeking abortions, but signed one mandating parental notification. He supports the death penalty and in 1988 called for executive orders and federal laws to outlaw discrimination against homosexuals.

Conservation groups have embraced Babbitt because they believe he has the clout, political skills and relationship with Clinton to push through fundamental changes in how the government manages its vast land holdings in the West.

Babbitt has been unusually successful in quickly assembling a handpicked team of subordinates at Interior and launching a number of major initiatives to reverse the environmental direction taken by the Bush and Reagan administrations.



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