C Boyden Gray

In the nation's capital, where standard wisdom rumbles down every marble corridor and pours out over every broadcast network, C. Boyden Gray listens to a different beat. Aloof, aristocratic and an avowed libertarian, Gray, who built his reputation during four years as White House counsel for President George Bush, clearly takes pride in coming to conclusions, both legal and political, independent of other Republicans.

In the nation's capital, where standard wisdom rumbles down every marble corridor and pours out over every broadcast network, C. Boyden Gray listens to a different beat. Aloof, aristocratic and an avowed libertarian, Gray, who built his reputation during four years as White House counsel for President George Bush, clearly takes pride in coming to conclusions, both legal and political, independent of other Republicans.

Administration officials publicly rebuked C. Boyden Gray Monday after the White House lawyer openly questioned the Contra-aid deal between President Bush and congressional leaders. The incident has emerged as a rare--and embarrassing--display of internal tension within a Bush White House staff faulted by some critics as inexperienced but which had won high marks for teamwork. "This was not Boyden's finest hour," said one senior White House aide. "Hopefully, we're back on the right track."

A former senior Commerce Department official said Thursday that President Bush's lawyer instructed the department to eliminate information from a list of Iraqi export licenses prepared for Congress. But former Commerce Undersecretary Dennis E. Kloske took responsibility for some of the alterations himself. He also said that no one had tried to deceive Congress by eliminating military designations and making other changes in the list. The statement was the first direct contention that C.

A former senior Commerce Department official said Thursday that President Bush's lawyer instructed the department to eliminate information from a list of Iraqi export licenses prepared for Congress. But former Commerce Undersecretary Dennis E. Kloske took responsibility for some of the alterations himself. He also said that no one had tried to deceive Congress by eliminating military designations and making other changes in the list. The statement was the first direct contention that C.

President Bush's forced about-face on affirmative action policy Thursday was the latest in a series of blunders and missteps that have alarmed Republicans and given Democrats reason to hope that the White House may no longer possess the political savvy that once made it seem invincible.

Top aides to President-elect Bush, launching a review of FBI findings that Edward J. Derwinski leaked sensitive intelligence information to the South Korean government, said Friday that they did not know about the evidence before Bush chose him for the Cabinet. C.

It is almost as though Clayland Boyden Gray, the lanky lawyer and an heir to the R. J. Reynolds tobacco fortune, had been groomed all his life to be counsel to the President of the United States. He grew up in a white-columned presidential mansion on the campus of the University of North Carolina. His father, Gordon Gray, was not only president of the university but a golfing buddy of Sen. Prescott Bush, the father of the 41st President.

How strange is it to find one of Washington's most outspoken critics of movie violence appearing in a new, violence- and cocaine-laced film about the drug war? Not only does Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have a cameo role in the new Steven Soderbergh film "Traffic," but a host of other senators and anti-drug government officials play themselves as well. The minor roles suited everyone's purposes: Hatch and other senators took a stand against drugs, and the film gained a heavy dose of realism.

Judicial filibusters -- A commentary Friday on the congressional stalemate on judicial nominees incorrectly attributed a memo to Clint Bollick. It was C. Boyden Gray, chairman of the Committee for Justice, who made the comments in favor of abolishing filibusters over judicial nominees.

It is almost as though Clayland Boyden Gray, the lanky lawyer and an heir to the R. J. Reynolds tobacco fortune, had been groomed all his life to be counsel to the President of the United States. He grew up in a white-columned presidential mansion on the campus of the University of North Carolina. His father, Gordon Gray, was not only president of the university but a golfing buddy of Sen. Prescott Bush, the father of the 41st President.

President Bush's forced about-face on affirmative action policy Thursday was the latest in a series of blunders and missteps that have alarmed Republicans and given Democrats reason to hope that the White House may no longer possess the political savvy that once made it seem invincible.

Administration officials publicly rebuked C. Boyden Gray Monday after the White House lawyer openly questioned the Contra-aid deal between President Bush and congressional leaders. The incident has emerged as a rare--and embarrassing--display of internal tension within a Bush White House staff faulted by some critics as inexperienced but which had won high marks for teamwork. "This was not Boyden's finest hour," said one senior White House aide. "Hopefully, we're back on the right track."

Top aides to President-elect Bush, launching a review of FBI findings that Edward J. Derwinski leaked sensitive intelligence information to the South Korean government, said Friday that they did not know about the evidence before Bush chose him for the Cabinet. C.

White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu's travel practices are under review by the Office of Government Ethics, an independent government agency that oversees standards of ethical conduct in the Executive Branch. Officials said the ethics agency is reviewing the investigation of Sununu's activities that was conducted by White House legal counsel C. Boyden Gray. Gray found that some political travel was undertaken as part of a taxpayer-funded official trip.

Re "Suit targets consumer watchdog," Business, June 23 I found it amusing to read that C. Boyden Gray, an attorney in a suit challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, complains about how unfair and wrong it is that "if you're a poor beleaguered financial institution … and you are set upon by this bureau, you have no access to the democratic system … to appeal what's happened. " Perhaps Gray might also consider the plight of a private individual set upon by one of those "poor beleaguered financial institutions.