Say 'Never' Again

"Never again can we accept a man who professes to have no knowledge in the area for which he has been nominated." Charles H. Percy, Chairman Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at the 1981 confirmation hearings for William P. Clark

CHANCES ARE William P. Clark is doing a lot of studying these days, hoping to avoid a confrontation as embarrassing as the one he faced in 1981 at his confirmation hearings to become a Deputy Secretary of State. Could he name the head of the government of Zimbabwe? No, Clark admitted, he could not. South Africa? No, not that one either.

Clark could probably answer those questions today. But as his luck would have it, Reagan's National Security Advisor has been nominated by the President not to assume his old post at the State Department, but to replace James Watt as Secretary of the Interior. It's as if Clark had transferred into a new course right before the final and had to catch up on a term's reading in a matter of days. And Clark's major has been anything but environmental studies.

A man who graduated from neither college nor law school and who took the bar exam twice before passing, Clark formed a close friendship with then-Governor Reagan in 1966. In the following years, Reagan gradually elevated Clark to a position on California's Supreme Court. Donald Wright, then Chief Justice of that court and a Reagan appointee as well, said that Clark was "not qualified by education, training or experience" to serve on the state's highest bench.

Reagan, though, seems to care little about the education, training or experience of his newest cabinet nominee. Instead, the President notes that Clark is a "God-fearing Westerner" and "a person I can trust." Adds Presidential Spokesman Larry Speakes, Clark is an "outdoorsman" with a "lifelong interest in environmental issues." Officials have also praised Clark as a reliable trouble shooter.

Reagan and Speakes predictably overlook Clark's lack of experience in either the formulation or implementation of environmental policies. But worse, Clark's record on the California Supreme Court reveals that, in each of 12 cases concerning the environment. Clark sided with development interests. Now he hopes to manage a department with an annual budget of millions that seeks to enforce environmental regulations.

Clark supporters argue that he's an able administrator who masters situations quickly--confirmation hearings not-withstanding, one assumes. Clark himself has said, "I've never felt intimidated by a lack of background." It's easy for him to say, but environmentalists may not feel so courageous.

It is deplorable that Idaho Senator James McClure, the chairman of the committee which has jurisdiction over the Interior Department, anticipates no difficulty in confirming the Secretary, in spite of Clark's record and his profound inexperience. The Senate almost never exercises its veto power over appointments, but Clark's nomination is the perfect opportunity. The committee should take Percy's words to heart, even more specifically than they were meant, and never again accept Clark while turning a blind eye to his ignorance.