Saving a Few Perks for a Rainy Day

HERE'S A NOVEL WASHINGTON idea: an Administration that lives like America, a government that drives its own cars, pays for its own meals and flies coach. Of course, worrying over such things is generally derided as cheap theater that saves almost no money. Yet, as symbolism goes, Clinton's plan to end limousine gridlock and severely limit the use of government planes is gratifying when one considers that a year or so ago flying on a government plane to a dentist appointment was not considered a firing offense.

A warm limo on a cold day set James Baker apart from normal working folks. Consequently, Clinton's chief of staff, Mack McLarty, will be making his own way to the office. Of the 45 cars at hand for portal-to-portal service in the Bush Administration, only 16 will remain. That stack of six pristine daily newspapers on every desk in the West Wing: gone. White House mess privileges, which were what separated the merely important from the princes who whisper in the President's ear, will be extended to the clerks who sort the mail, if they can stand the food there. The White House staff will be 25% leaner starting the next fiscal year. Use of government airplanes will be nearly on a life-or- death basis, and Cabinet officials are urged to fly coach. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who is less than 5 ft. tall, admitted it will be no hardship for him, joking, "I don't need the legroom."

While the bowling alley in the White House will remain open, gone are the stables run by the National Park Service in Virginia, a perk much enjoyed by the Quayles.

Of course, there remains a perk gap -- the chasm between what government officials give up and the privileges that remain. Presidential assistants are entitled to diplomatic passports, which means they can obtain them nearly overnight. For entertainment, there are the three presidential boxes at Kennedy Center theaters, which aides often use. Among the choicest berths are vacation homes in the Grand Tetons and the Virgin Islands available at Motel 6 rates.

The worst excesses have vanished. The presidential yacht Sequoia, which Nixon's aides would take down the Potomac but abandon in favor of a helicopter for the trip back, has been sold. But don't look for many bus trips. The President took his victory lap on Air Force One last Wednesday to go to the town meeting in Detroit. It's a $181 million Boeing 747 with an office, computer center, conference room, bedroom, 85 phones, 18 televisions, soft lighting and an operating room for emergency surgery. Clinton put on the blue serge flight jacket with the presidential seal and settled in to work the phones. "It's a lot better than Air Elvis," he remarked, a reference to his campaign plane, which resembled a homeless shelter. It is better, and if he's not careful, he will get used to it.