European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 04, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday february 4,1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 quasi Reform it Russia William Safire near the Brink Davos Switzerland you could t throw a Snow Ball at the world economic forum in this ski resort without hit no a rejected russian reformer. Russia s reformist finance minister Boris Feodorov walked into president Boris Yeltsin s office with a him or me ultimatum either fire the inflationary Central Bank chief Victor Geras Chen to who was on a Ruble printing Binge to prop up inefficient Industry or i quit. If Gerash Chenko makes an other mistake he s out Yeltsin promised Feodorov tells me. Unsatisfied with this delaying Strad dle the 35-year-old economist followed other free marketers abandoned by Yeltsin and spurned by the voters Over the Side. If you take the blame for what you have not done he says thars just  that leaves Russia s government in the hands of Yeltsin s prime minister Victor Chernomyrdin Cham Pion of the Feather bedding state industrialists. His strategy let inflation Roar up Over 20 percent a month that s a month then become a popular hero by imposing Price controls. How can russians who believe in Freedom avoid this evidently Yeltsin wants Power More to preside than to Lead this May prevent dictatorship but the re formers do not yet have a Leader the democratic Way is to fight it out or make a political Deal. Their backstage Power broker and Campaign manager will be Gennadi Burbulis the image maker who talked the russian Mil itary into letting Yeltsin speak atop a Friendly tank re formers see him As a combination Michael Deaver Andray Bliss go explain that to a russian. Several of the candidates for Savior of Russia after the coming hyperinflation and freeze were lined up in a seminar at Davos. A tall swede sitting in the Audi ence next to me was High on Anatoly Chubis in charge of privatization As a political Comer he is last of the new capitalists running the rapids on the Yeltsin raft As it Heads for the Falls. I asked the swede what he did and it turned out he prime ministers lots Bigshot the russian who clearly dominated the proceedings with both his passion and presence was Grigory Yav Linsky. Known in the West As the Man of the "500 Days the serious capitalist plan that Mikhail Gorbachev rejected sealing his doom the 41-year-old economist Heads a bloc of about 8 percent of the seats in the new Duma. ". V.  i collared him for a three hour late night talk in an Ai Pine hotel lobby. No wonder the reformers lost the elec Tion Zavlinsky says All that was offered was quasi Reform. The promised stabilisation of the Ruble never happened what Little privatization was done was More like collectivization since 1989, Gross National product declined by half instead of More democracy the peo ple saw More crime and corruption. And this was sup posed to be Reform. What seemed to anger Zavlinsky most was that pay ments were never made last year after prices were negotiated to buy goods from Farmers and producers the government double crossed the Sellers. Feodorov glumly confirmed this blaming Over promising by Chernomyrdin no wonder quasi Reform was rejected at the polls. Zavlinsky has positioned himself As a constructive critic of Yeltsin s government today and dissociated himself from its faltering reforms of the past. He volunteered to be prime minister with a new team an thus cannot be blamed for jumping ship As it headed into hyperinflation. More to the political Point Zavlinsky has stopped trying to prove to intellectuals he has brains and begun talking bluntly to people about organizing a move ment or nascent party. He wants to pull Russia s 89 states into seven manageable regions he wants to give russians another Choice besides paralysis he is trying to find the pro russian not anti Western language to connect free Market ideals to people s needs. I want to create what we do not have a political biography says Zavlinsky an electrician from Lvov who makes no secret that his Mother s father was jew. Politicians now appear overnight where from where did they stand during the soviet Union s col lapse i want to have a history people can  so he warns and participates and organizes an Waits. I am very optimistic but not for this  c 1994 new York times news service Clinton appointees subjected to unfair attacks though he had no ground for complaint himself defense department nominee Bobby Inman had a Point. It is True that men and women named to High government office these Days Are often savagely abused. We ought to think about what has gone  Guinier one of the victims said on National Public radio recently that what was said about her made her feel like Alice in wonderland who was so transformed after she fell Down the Rab bit Hole that she hardly knew who she was. The people who advised her on the confirmation process professor Guinier said spoke with a cynicism and a de Spair that were truly  Guinier episode shows the main elements of the problem. Attacks Are made on nominees for reasons of ideology and poli tics with a zealotry that knows no Bounds of truth. The attackers Are in both the press and the Senate. Nominees Are ordered not to reply and those who should defend themare too often inept or Craven. The Wall Street journal led the attack on professor Guinier by calling her a quota  that was a straight Forward lie she did not favor racial quo tas. Then republicans called her anti democratic because she had written about assuring minorities political weight by using a form of proportional representation which most democratic countries do instead of creating gerrymandered Black majority  Guinier was ordered by the White House to remain silent As a Cour Tesy to the Senate until she had a confirmation hear ing. But the chair Man of the Senate judiciary commit tee Joseph Biden let the attacks build up without a prompt hearing. And then presi Anthony Dent Clinton Lewis ducking for Politi Cal cover dumped her. That was a travesty of the constitutional confirmation process. The Public professor Guinier said recently was denied a genuine robust debate about ideas and poli  a few weeks ago the Wall Street journal had a Long editorial deploring weirdly gerrymandered Black majority congressional District drawn in Louisiana. The criticism was right but the editors might have had the decency to mention who was the prime critic of such districts Lani Guinier. More recently there was the Case of Morton Halperin a widely respected an notably hardheaded National Security expert nominated to be an assistant Secre tary of defense. Because he had turned against the Viet Nam War As Many or most americans did and because he had made sound criticisms of the Cia sen. Strom Thurmond and others on the right attacked Halperin. With the change in defense Secretary the appointment died though he May get another Job in the administration. A victim of slow confirmation torture is William b. Gould in a Stanford Law pro Fessor who was nominated by president Clinton last june to be chairman of the National labor relations Board. More than seven months later he is still caught in a snarl caused by Republican partisanship and White House ineptitude. The surprising attacker in this cases sen. Nancy Kassebaum surprising because she is not usually so partisan or unfair. She has called professor Gould Radical though in fact he is a moderate labor Law expert respected by both sides. Senator Kasschau s real interest apparently is to dictate the Choice for a re publican Norb seat. The White House could probably have worked things out quickly but it fiddled. A Deal May finally be near now. Of course politics has always played a part in confirmation. But the process is nastier now. Republicans and the right Wing press Are out to harass president Clinton As if to deny the legitimacy of his election. The president for his part has been slow on appointments and weak in defending his choices. When Robert Fiske jr., an eminent new York lawyer and former . Attorney was named As counsel to investigate Whitewater the Wall Street journal questioned the Choice. Though Fiske had represented Clark Clifford the editorial conceded that he was entitled to do so. Though Republican senators had attacked him for his role on the american bar association s judiciary committee it said he had actually been Good there. But Why the editorial concluded appoint someone facing such questions if we want Good people in government decent politicians and editors Are going to have to restrain their partisan zealotry. That has done More harm than the much criticized press invasions of privacy. C now York times news service