Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994 TAG: 9403090193
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Cutler, 76, succeeds Bernard Nussbaum, who resigned under pressure over the weekend. Critics contended Nussbaum mishandled the White House response to the affair that is proving a major embarrassment to the administration.
Cutler, a pillar of the Washington legal establishment, also served as White House counsel in the Carter administration.
Clinton called him ``a seasoned veteran'' with ``impeccable professional credentials and the highest ethical standards.''
``I wanted a Lloyd Cutler-type of lawyer, so I decided to go to the original and see how I would do,'' Clinton said. He announced the appointment - which does not require Senate confirmation - at a White House news conference.
Cutler said, ``I am honored by this appointment and I will do my best to serve you and the country.''
He said his first recommendation would be that ``everyone in the White House cooperate,'' both with the special counsel's probe of the Whitewater affair and any congressional investigation that might occur. ``Trust is the coin of the realm,'' Cutler said.
He said he was limiting his service to 130 days because it was a tough job and because he was ``a senior citizen.''
``This is hardly the way I expected to spend the spring of 1994,'' he said.
Cutler is a Washington insider who for decades has helped big companies steer through the reefs and shoals of government regulation and congressional legislation.
In 1979, President Carter, a novice to Washington, tapped a reluctant Cutler for the job of White House counsel.
``He is broad-gauged; he is possessed with wisdom and judgment,'' said Robert Strauss, a Washington attorney and former Democratic Party chairman. ``Above all, he has a sense of humor. And he will need all of that in this job.''
In conversations over the weekend, Cutler agreed to take the job, but only for 130 days.
``Clearly, he has a lot to offer that a lot of people don't have,'' Strauss said. ``He's older and experienced enough to be secure. He isn't afraid to reach out for judgment and advice, to seek opinions from others as he's making up his mind.''
Strauss remembered that shortly after Carter imposed a grain embargo against the Soviet Union, it became apparent the decision could cause havoc in the U.S. commodity markets unless properly handled.
Cutler asked for the names of the three or four people who knew the markets best, talked to them over the weekend and was advised not to permit the exchanges to open on Monday morning.
``And by Monday, the administration had a policy and a process for doing this,'' Strauss said.
World War II was still a year away when Cutler, a magna cum laude graduate of Yale University Law School, was admitted to the bar.
Over the next half-century, he amassed a lofty array of corporate clients and helped establish his firm, Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering, as a capital powerhouse.
Cutler quickly established a reputation as a skilful player in the Carter administration's inner circles.
``I did not come here to sit around and help select judges,'' Cutler said in 1980. ``If you can't take part in giving substantive advice, you may as well go back and practice law.''
He also said he didn't want to be involved in any ``conflict-of-interest cases.''
Now, that could be the heart of the job.
by CNB