WASHINGTON — Eight months after President Clinton installed a strong White House chief of staff, a new power center is emerging that some aides and Democratic allies fear could undermine the President's ability to deliver a consistent message once again.
At its head is Harold M. Ickes, who as deputy chief of staff for political affairs commands an operation that is rapidly increasing in importance with the approach of the 1996 presidential campaign year. Installed 13 months ago, Ickes' influence has grown steadily since last fall's midterm election, when some political advisers fell from favor in the eyes of the President and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday February 18, 1995 Home Edition Part A Page 4 Column 1 National Desk 1 inches; 23 words Type of Material: Correction
White House appointee--The name of the newly appointed White House political director was misspelled in Friday's editions of The Times. He is Douglas B. Sosnik.
Ickes' growing influence was evident again Thursday, when the White House chose as its new political director an aide with strong political and personal ties to him. The official, Douglas B. Sosnick, is a well-regarded political veteran who has worked in the White House congressional affairs office and for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The appointment added another piece to a White House political apparatus that has been built to Ickes' specifications. At his urging, the White House in January chose Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd as general chairman and Donald Fowler as day-to-day chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Some Democrats challenged the choice of Dodd in particular as a threat to Clinton's centrist agenda.
Many well-situated Democrats think that Ickes will be similarly prominent in choosing the chairman of Clinton's reelection committee, when that job is filled in the spring.
"At every step of the way, Harold's becoming stronger," said one Democrat close to the Clinton political operation.
Ickes and Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta, who is more moderate than his liberal deputy, already have disagreed on policy issues, ranging from the need for further deficit reduction to the choice of party chairman. Although they have avoided an open rift, some aides have fretted that the two men are developing separate viewpoints and fiefdoms that could signal sharper conflicts ahead.
Others said that, at the very least, the emergence of these two powerful camps threatens to turn the senior staff again into a cacophony of conflicting voices--replicating the precise situation that Panetta was brought in to remedy.
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Conflicting advice from many powerful and independent aides has been blamed for the White House lack of focus during much of the Administration.
