Mickey Kantor

If American body language is any guide, an agreement that will avert the imposition of punishing tariffs on $5.9 billion worth of imported Japanese luxury cars may be on the horizon. If verbal statements are any indicator, then all bets are off. U.S. negotiators emerged from their fourth day of automotive and auto parts trade talks Sunday appearing relaxed and upbeat compared to previous appearances. U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Garten went so far as to say, "We've had a good morning."

On his second trade mission to Asia, which begins Sunday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be accompanied by just six businessmen, a sleek strike force compared with the robust retinue of almost four dozen business and community leaders who raced around with him five years ago. The mayor's office said the delegation was intentionally limited to enable Villaraigosa to focus on key meetings, including some with high-ranking government leaders,...

Los Angeles is burning. Pillars of smoke rise from the city like biblical portents. But inside his ninth-floor West L.A. law office, Mickey Kantor puts the riot aside--temporarily--to talk about his good friend, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton. It doesn't take long to see that Kantor is a man with a mission, that he has embarked this year on what may be the culmination of his life in politics.

Scrambling to survive the worst political crisis of his career, President Clinton has turned to the combat-savvy advisors who helped him escape a lifetime's worth of tight spots in the past--including Dick Morris, the 1996 campaign strategist who quit that post amid his own sex scandal. The advisors are counseling the president to hang tough, stick to his broad denials of wrongdoing and hope for the controversy to die down, aides said.

Reaching beyond his own inner circle, President-elect Bill Clinton on Friday named Los Angeles lawyer Warren Christopher and Washington attorney and former civil rights leader Vernon E. Jordan Jr. to take charge of the team planning his transition to power. The key personnel decision came as a rebuff to Mickey Kantor, the Los Angeles lawyer who served as chairman of the Clinton campaign but whose bid for transition leadership had ignited angry protests within the Arkansas governor's camp.

At 5 a.m. in a conference room of the U.S. trade mission in Geneva, a room unadorned but for its glorious daytime view of Lake Geneva, all but one of the U.S. negotiators have given up, exhausted. A trade agreement that President Clinton considers crucial to the United States' economic future is on the line, and prospects look bleak. The key U.S. deputy, so fatigued that he fears he is suffering a heart attack, has gone home to his borrowed apartment and immediately fallen into a deep sleep.

After [U.S. trade representative] Mickey Kantor's announcement imposing heavy tariffs against imported Japanese luxury cars, the rich surely deserve a tax cut. SAMUEL R. SILVERSTEIN Fullerton

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips Changes Its Name: The West Los Angeles-based law firm has added partner Mickey Kantor to its nameplate. Kantor, who joined the firm in 1975, is active in the Democratic Party and represents such clients as Northrop Corp., Mobil Oil and Occidental Petroleum. The firm, which last year lost name partner Alan I. Rothenberg to Latham & Watkins, is now called Manatt, Phelps, Phillips & Kantor.

Gene Pomerantz is on target with his "Buy American" letter ("U.S. Citizens Need a 'Buy American' Push," July 31). Someone high up ought to appeal to all Americans to buy our own products and put our people back to work. And I'd like to add a suggestion to his: Let's make it as difficult for the Japanese and others to place their automobiles in our market as they've made it for American companies to crack their markets. Are you listening, Mickey Kantor? JERRY COWLE, Pacific Palisades

Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor defended Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and criticized what he implied was an anonymous White House whispering campaign seeking her ouster. Kantor did not say Reno was a must for President Clinton's second-term Cabinet, but he said on CNN's "Evans & Novak" that the decision about keeping Reno should be made regardless of the Justice Department's role in investigating suspected illegal Democratic campaign activities.

President Clinton stepped up his defense against allegations of sexual misconduct, recruiting veteran political warrior and longtime advisor Mickey Kantor to become his personal counsel and signing off Saturday on a set of "talking points" for aides that significantly amplify his denial of a sexual relationship with a White House intern. The president "certainly denies that he ever had oral sex" with 24-year-old former intern Monica S. Lewinsky, according to the memo to be used by his defenders.

President Clinton personally recruited veteran political warrior and longtime advisor Mickey Kantor to become his personal counsel as an increasingly isolated White House struggled Saturday for an effective defense against allegations of sexual misconduct that threaten to engulf the Clinton presidency.

A former member of President Clinton's Cabinet has for the first time acknowledged that he helped former Justice Department official Webster L. Hubbell pry loose a disputed consulting fee from the city of Los Angeles, months after Hubbell pleaded guilty to felony charges. Mickey Kantor, who served in the Cabinet from 1993 until last January, said earlier this year that it would have been "inappropriate" for him to have gotten involved with the Los Angeles payment to Hubbell.

Former Clinton administration Cabinet member Mickey Kantor was questioned before a grand jury Tuesday by prosecutors investigating why top aides and supporters of the president arranged financial assistance for Webster L. Hubbell after Hubbell resigned as the No. 3 official in the Justice Department and came under investigation in the Whitewater affair.

In addition to the employment deals in the private sector that were steered to Webster L. Hubbell, a top Clinton administration official approved giving a federal job to Hubbell's son soon after the senior Hubbell's resignation from the Justice Department. Mickey Kantor, the top Clinton political advisor who served four years in the president's Cabinet, signed off on a staff position for W. Walter Hubbell in the U.S. Trade Representative's office.

President Clinton's then-top aide and a second senior official, who is now the White House chief of staff, made telephone calls in an effort to arrange paid engagements for Webster L. Hubbell when he resigned from the Justice Department in 1994 amid allegations of impropriety, the White House acknowledged Tuesday.

Kantor to Ask Japan for Renewal of Chip Accord: U.S. Trade Rep. Mickey Kantor said he will ask Japanese officials to renew the two nations' landmark accord to open Japan's semiconductor market. Japanese chip manufacturers announced Thursday that they oppose a renewal when the first five-year extension of the accord expires next July. The companies are backed by the Japanese government.

Bill Clinton had impressed me for years on C-SPAN, primarily for his innovative educational plans. Last January, when the Gennifer Flowers story broke, I was heartsick. I was sure that all the "smart money" politicos would desert him and his campaign would collapse. Then I heard Mickey Kantor on Michael Jackson's KABC talk show defending Clinton. I knew nothing about Kantor, but such loyalty pleasantly surprised me. Now, I'm quite amazed as I read about Kantor's outstanding background in public service.

As the controversy over campaign donations continued to expand, former Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor said Wednesday that there was no connection between firms giving large donations to the Democratic Party and their selection to join two overseas trade missions that he led last year.

Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor defended Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and criticized what he implied was an anonymous White House whispering campaign seeking her ouster. Kantor did not say Reno was a must for President Clinton's second-term Cabinet, but he said on CNN's "Evans & Novak" that the decision about keeping Reno should be made regardless of the Justice Department's role in investigating suspected illegal Democratic campaign activities.