Bush To Name Whitman to EPA

Thursday, December 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, a moderate Republican and avid outdoorswoman, has accepted President-elect Bush's offer to head the Environmental Protection Agency, officials close to both politicians said Thursday.

Bush could announce his decision as early as Friday, along with several other personnel appointments, officials said. Whitman allies told associates Wednesday that she had landed the job, but sources in Bush's camp didn't confirm the decision until Thursday.

Whitman notified state GOP senate president Donald DiFrancesco that she would be in Austin, Texas, Friday for a personnel announcement with Bush. DiFrancesco is next in line of succession.

The development came as senior Republicans in Washington and Wisconsin said another GOP governor â€” Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin â€” accepted Bush's offer in a Thursday morning telephone call to be Health and Human Services secretary. They said the announcement would be made next week.

However, sources close to Bush said they could not immediately confirm the deal was closed, and Thompson himself was sending mixed signals.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

Even as rumors of the Bush telephone call circulated, Thompson told reporters that the president-elect wants him to be HHS secretary, but he would prefer to be secretary of transportation.

``The president really wants me, and he thinks I can do a good job for him and for the country,'' Thompson, 59, said in an interview. ``The con, of course, is that I love you people. I love Wisconsin.''

Thompson, the nation's longest serving governor, declined to comment on whether the president-elect had formally asked him to take the Health and Human Services job. The governor also said he had not yet made a decision and did not expect to make one until he returned from a Christmas vacation in Mexico with his family.

Thompson said the HHS position is the one Bush would like him to fill, while transportation secretary is ``the one I would like to be able to do.''

Whitman, 54, is in her second term as New Jersey's governor. Her term expires in January.

An abortion-rights supporter, Whitman would be sheltered at the EPA from social issues that galvanize Bush's conservative base. Thompson, on the other hand, is an opponent of abortion and would be welcomed by conservatives at an agency where social issues are critical.

Environmentalists view Whitman's selection with skepticism, though she championed open-space preservation in the nation's most densely developed state and refused to abandon an unpopular auto emission test designed to reduce air pollution.

Critics say that in the name of attracting business, she compromised water pollution protections and cut spending for state offices that prosecute environmental abuses by industry.

Bush hoped to make several appointments Friday, but aides cautioned that he would need another week or two to complete work on his Cabinet.

He has already filled two of the four biggest jobs: secretary of state went to retired Gen. Colin Powell and business executive Paul O'Neill is his secretary of treasury nominee. Bush's top choice for attorney general, Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, said Wednesday he did not want the job.

Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a former FBI agent and Justice Department official, is a favorite of conservatives and many Washington Republicans. But other candidates remain, including Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft who was defeated in November by Gov. Mel Carnahan shortly after Carnahan had died.

It was possible, but not likely, that Bush could settle on an attorney general nominee this week, aides said.

Former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., long considered a sure-bet for defense secretary, is still a leading candidate but Bush has told advisers he needs more time to consider his options. He was not expected to decide this week.

In other developments:

â€”GOP sources said Virginia Gov. James Gilmore is Bush's pick to head the Republican National Committee. The announcement could be made Friday.

â€”Republican consultant Rich Bond, a longtime ally of the Bush family, emerged as a candidate for Labor secretary.

Bush advisers say Thompson is a natural fit for the health and human services spot with his reputation for being innovative in areas such as health care and welfare reform.

Wisconsin was at the forefront of welfare reform under Thompson's administration â€” it was the first state to apply and receive approval from the federal government for its work-based welfare reform proposal.

More than 27,000 families have left Wisconsin's welfare rolls since 1997, although critics say that doesn't guarantee they are getting the education they need or earning wages above the poverty level.

In taking over health and human services, Thompson would succeed Donna Shalala, who once worked for him as the University of Wisconsin chancellor.

The two have clashed over changes to the nation's transplant system proposed by HHS, which would break down geographical barriers governing how organs are distributed. The state sued HHS over the proposals, but a federal judge threw out the case last month.