Bush Budget Appointee Wields Pen And Sword

WASHINGTON—To some scientists the title will sound impressive; to others, it will be simply obscure: associate director for natural resources, energy, and science at the Office of Management and Budget. But scientists ought to know who carries this portfolio, because the person in that office has the potential to relax or squeeze important parts of the federal research budget for science. The current occupant is R6bert Grady. a newly appointed (see story, page 1) political scientist and exspeechwriter, who will be expected to manage that slice of the budget that includes most of the government’s nonmedical, civilian spending on science. Three other program associate directors (known collectively as PADs) have responsibility for the rest of the federal government, including NIH and the Department of Defense. Grady has no technical qualifications for grappling with such issues as the disposal of nuclear wastes the space station, or the superconducting supercollider, three of many issues on his plate. But that lack of scientific credentials is not unusual among previous office holders. A PAD’s portfolio is the politics of the budget—to make sure that specific agency initiatives advance the president’s policies and, if need be, to suggest new ways to carry Out those policies. That mandate can be almost impossibly broad, as in developing legislation to promote that latest technological buzzword— economic competitiveness—or it can focus on one particular agency, as in the attempt to carry out President Bush’s promise to double the budget for the National Science Foundation over the next five years. Working out of an office in a building next door to the White House, associate directors have several ways to turn those policies into political realities. Grady scores high on one important criterion, namely, his access to the powers that be. Lobbyists say, for example, that Grady’s ties to 0MB director Richard Darman, the point man for Bush’s upcoming budget battle with Congress, may give him additional clout within the agency. And it won’t hurt that he will have the president’s ear when he Writes speeches dealing with the environment and the economy, a task that isn’t in his job description. Another factor is the quality of the associate director’s relationship with other members of the president’s staff, especially those officials who deal with domestic policy issues. For example, Grady’s predecessor, Robert Dawson, was well-versed in water management issues from an earlier stint at the Army Corps of Engineers, but was not a major player on other domestic issues. However, the real authority of a PAD flows from the numbers that he provides his political bosses. That information is generated by a staff of 70 or so career employees who are intimately familiar with the budgets of each of the agencies under his jurisdiction. “Those people are the oil that makes the White House machinery run,” notes William Monull, an associate director for science under President Nixon and currently president of a Princeton, NJ., consulting firm called Mathtech Inc. “And the PAD’s jobis to take the scientific and technical information provided by his staff and get it into the political machinery in such a way that it can be used to set policy.” Even though that staff may be his greatest strength, Grady faces the challenge of reviving their sagging spirits after a succession of difficult budget battles between Congress and the Reagan administration. “Those people are looking forward to Darman and his crew,” says Gary Bash, executive director, of the nonprofit 0MB Watch and a former professor of psychology and education at the University of Michigan. “0MB lost a lot of status because of [former 0MB director] Jim Miller’s lack of expertise as a budgeteer. It got to the point where Congress no longer believed their [projected budget] numbers, and looked here for the information. But that situation could change under a new team." The job itself is not an easy one. A new book that analyzes how the government really works calls the associate director’s post one of the 100 toughest jobs in the federal government because of the stress of reconciling agency demands with administration priorities. "There’s a tension between doing your job well and making friends,” says one for- mer PADwho’s quoted in The Prune Book, published last fall by The Center for Excellence in Government. “You can’t have it both ways.” Beyond selecting from among unpleasant choices, an associate director is precluded from playing a role in some decisions that directly affect the scientific community. “A PAD has no control over the regulatory aspect of what 0MB does,” explains Bass. “That’s handled by a separate office. Before anybody gets too excited about this guy’s potential impact, they should remember that there are a lot of important regulatory issues—like data collection and survey techniques, for example— that Grady won’t be involved with.” Given these constraints, what can Grady do to advance the new administration’s apparently proscience agenda? Morrill offers some advice to the novice budget official. “Be analytical,” Morrill suggests. “Choose a few areas where you have a chance to make a difference, and pay attention to the political situation as well as what your career people are telling you. Above all, don’t expect to hit too many home runs.”

Bush Budget Appointee Wields Pen And Sword

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