Mayors Prominent in Press Reports on Possible Clinton Appointments

Recent speculation in the news media on new members of President Clinton's second-term Cabinet has included several leaders of The U.S. Conference of Mayors, among them, Seattle's Norman Rice, Detroit's Dennis Archer, Baltimore's Kurt Schmoke, Philadelphia's Edward Rendell and Atlanta's Bill Campbell. Often mentioned as a candidate for Secretary of Transportation is William Daley, brother of Chicago Mayor and Conference of Mayors President Richard Daley.

Immediately following the President's November 5 reelection, the Associated Press reported that Mayors Archer, Rice and Schmoke were prospects for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, a post first-term Secretary Henry Cisneros, former Mayor of San Antonio, has announced he will vacate. The same AP report said that Bill Daley was "the easy front-runner" to succeed Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena, the former Mayor of Denver who has informed the White House that he will be leaving.

The same group of potential candidates for the Cabinet -- with the addition of Mayor Daley himself -- was reported that week by the White House Bulletin.

The November 16 issue of the National Journal lists Mayors Schmoke, Rice and Rendell, along with HUD Assistant Secretary Andrew Cuomo, as candidates to replace Secretary Cisneros. The Journal names William Daley as the "front-runner" for Secretary of Transportation, and adds him as a candidate for U.S. Trade Representative if Charlene Barshefsky, currently acting in the post, is not nominated for Senate confirmation.

The November 18 Washington Post reported that Mayor Rice, the immediate Past President of the Conference of Mayors, "looks to be the front-runner" for Secretary of HUD, and an AP story on November 21, the day Cisneros announced his planned departure, reported that the Secretary had had "conversations with several mayors mentioned as possible successors, including Norm Rice of Seattle, Dennis Archer of Detroit and Bill Campbell of Atlanta." The Atlanta Constitution has run several stories about the possibility of Mayor Campbell being offered a Cabinet post.

Speculation about other mayors finding positions in the Administration has appeared in regional newspapers. The Louisville Courier Journal, reporting on Mayor Jerry Abramson's scheduled departure from office late in 1998, said "There's been speculation that he will leave early, possibly to accept a job in President Clinton1s Cabinet." East Orange Mayor Cardell Cooper, the President's New Jersey campaign chair, was the subject of a Newark Star-Ledger story in which elected officials around the State wondered whether the Mayor would be offered a job in Washington. The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel asked, "Could West Palm Beach Mayor and Republican Nancy Graham be Washington-bound?" based on President Clinton's comment in a campaign speech there that he was "going to watch her." While the President moved quickly to name a new White House chief of staff to replace Leon Panetta, who is returning to his home state of California, decisions on key positions in national security are not expected until after Thanksgiving, and decisions on the domestic Cabinet will probably not be made before January.