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Morning News

Transition of Power: Roundtable on Changes in Washington and Their Effect on Local Issues

Aired January 8, 2001 - 9:20 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are just 12 days away from the inauguration of President-elect George W. Bush. How will the priorities of the new Bush administration effect people around the country? We decided to get out of the Beltway today. We are going to focus our political roundtable by inviting three journalist who cover Washington with an eye towards local issues.

We have Michael Doyle, who is the regional correspondent for the McClatchy newspapers of California; Bill Adair is Washington correspondent for the "St. Petersburg Times"; and Gebe Martinez is a political correspondent for "The Detroit News."

Lady and gentlemen, welcome. Thanks for joining us on here on MORNING NEWS.

First, to the news of the day, or one of the top stories of the day, Linda Chavez. Can you have a labor secretary that at least has the impression, whether it is a fair impression or not, of a women who has used an illegal immigrant in the past?

BILL ADAIR, "ST. PETERSBURG TIMES": Well, I think the Bush folks have been very effective at -- in the first day, at least, at portraying it as a case of compassion. And to the extent they can continue to do that, I think they will at least be able to defend those charges. Now labor is still going to fight very hard against her. I think the Bush folks were very strong yesterday.

MICHAEL DOYLE, MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS: I would like to add, there are important facts yet to be drawn out. I think that Mrs. Chavez says that she was not acting as an employer of the woman, but was acting out of compassion. I think there will questions about exactly the employment relationship between the two. Questions about how long Mrs. Chavez knew that she was in this country illegally.

But there is a dangerous symmetry involved, that she is being appointed to head the Labor Department, and it has now been suggested was knowingly harboring an illegal immigrant. And those are the sort of dangerous symmetries that can prove problematic for the nominee.

GEBE MARTINEZ, "DETROIT NEWS": One more thing is that that whole controversy creates a wedge for greater scrutiny of Miss Chavez. I mean, the labor community is very much opposed to her. And they were already facing an uphill battle, but this gives them the opportunity to open up the area of scrutiny of Miss Chavez.

KAGAN: Gebe, you are coming from Michigan, as area where labor unions have been strong, what would be their opposition to Linda Chavez?

MARTINEZ: They, first of all, have very deep reservations about her opposition of minimum wage. Let's remember that in the last session of Congress, David Bonior of Michigan sponsored the minimum wage bill, and it was a bill that almost made it through the session, except that it got caught up in a fight over tax cuts. It didn't make it. Labor was pushing it. They were hoping to get it through again. There were even, by the way, Republican moderates in the House who were supporting it because they see that as the key to gaining labor votes of support down the road.

Now, aside from the minimum wage, there is a real serious question about positions on affirmative action. Also, on her statements that there's not such thing as a glass ceiling for women. So when we are talking about affirmative action, we are not talking necessarily about minorities, but about her views toward women in the workplace. So labor is going to have very serious problem. They are going to mobilize against her. They've already started contacting members in the Senate. And they will be mounting a very big campaign to defeat this nomination.

KAGAN: Bill, let's travel south, to your part of the world, to Florida, this bipartisan task force that is meeting over a couple days over this week. Are they really going to make any difference on the way elections are handled in Florida. Probably most of the country will be watching that.

ADAIR: Absolutely they will. They were very careful when they put the task force together, at getting Republicans and Democrats. It's a very broad spectrum of people involved. Everyone in the state is very aware of how the state looked. They've all heard the jokes that the state's name ends in D-U-H. I think this is definitely going to be something that they correct, and I think the state will spend a lot of money to correct it.

DOYLE: Just to add to that, it is not the state alone that will be examining election procedures. There have been at least three bills introduced in the House of Representatives, even in this very new 107th Congress, Congressman Peter Fazio, Congressman James Clavio (ph) and others have introduced bills to establish a federal commission to study election procedures and make recommendation. There will certainly be congressional hearing by the House Administration Committee, whose chairman has not yet been named. There may be a federal commission established. And so the sort of reexamination will go beyond just the single state of Florida.

KAGAN: Michael, let's look at your part of the country, at California. One of the top stories there, the energy crunch, electricity and deregulation. Do you expect any answers -- any help to come out of Washington from the folks in California?

DOYLE: There could be. There certainly will be attention paid this week. President Clinton had been planning -- I believe will be having -- an energy summit of a sort in the White House with key California officials. There will certainly be hard questions, important questions of Spence Abraham from Michigan, the former senator, who has been nominated to be secretary of energy. There has been talk by Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, the chairman -- incoming chairman of the House Commerce Committee to have a hearing on the situation. This is an issue because of California's size and intrastate nature of the energy business that is certainly going to attract congressional and presidential attention. How much the federal agencies or Congress can do, we are going to have to wait and see.

MARTINEZ: By the way, you know, as we're focusing on the nominations of Chavez and John Ashcroft for attorney general, the energy secretary is going...

KAGAN: Spencer Abraham from Michigan, former senator.

MARTINEZ: He was defeated in November and was appointed by Bush to energy secretary. People thought he might have been appointed to Transportation. So Energy was a surprise appointment. That is one agency that is going to be facing crises immediately. OPEC is supposed to reduce its cost -- its fuel supply about three days before the administration takes office. We have talked about the California situation. And then there are still those, you know, pesky problems about security at nuclear labs. So he is not going to have an easy jobs going in, and in fact he may be facing a lot of controversies from the beginning.

DOYLE: In fact, just to add to that, one of the line of questions, certainly to be put to him, will be his support that is consistent with President-elect Bush's support for oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This is a high- profile environmental fight. Certainly members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by an Alaska Republican, will be waiting to press Senator Abraham and what he would be doing with the Energy Department to allow drilling, but in an environmentally sensitive way.

KAGAN: Gebe, let's get back to how Spencer Abraham and what he might do at the Energy Department could effect folks on your home turf in Michigan? I had read that also Spencer Abraham, as a senator, had voted to do away with the Energy Department all together. So probably glad he didn't do that, because now he has a job.

MARTINEZ: He is going to be asked tough questions about that. And in fact, one of the people raising the questions is the woman who beat him, Debbie Stabenow, although she said that she is probably going to support his nomination. There really won't be opposition to him on that front.

But, clearly, he will be asked the tough questions. He wanted to dismantle the Energy Department as part of the conservative Republican budget-cutting moves of the '90s. And now, to hear George Bush talk, the Energy Department is vital to national security. When appointed Abraham he said that energy security means national security. So, yeah, he is going to have a tough job.

DOYLE: In fact, the fact that there's no longer discussion of abolishing the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, the Department of Commerce, which had all been supposed priorities of the Republicans that took control of the House in 1994 and 1995, suggest just how far the Republicans have come in evolving their attitude toward the federal government.

KAGAN: We have to cut you off on that. We are out of time. Just all the more reason we have to have all three of you back to continue the conversation. Interesting perspective from all three of you, Bill Adair, Michael Doyle, and Gebe Martinez, thanks for joining us this morning. Good to see all three of you.

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