Bringing Back a Tough and Tainted Pol

By Laurence I. Barrett

Cherubic and wide-eyed, David Wilhelm, 37, lacks the public ferocity usually expected of a party's national chairman. "The White House wants to hear a Great Dane barking," said one of Wilhelm's friends. "David often sounds like a Chihuahua."

And so in the end he proved to be no match for Barbara Mikulski. On July 26 the diminutive but unquestionably ferocious Senator from Maryland went to the White House with several Democratic colleagues to review major legislative problems like health care with Bill Clinton. But she pressed a different priority: removal of Wilhelm as party chairman. If the Democratic caucus were polled, she said, it would be unanimous -- Wilhelm must go. Party elders, notably Senate majority leader George Mitchell, demurred. But Mikulski's complaints had wide resonance. Last week the White House informed Wilhelm that Tony Coelho, a tough and controversial political pro, would be given a large role at the Democratic National Committee. Hurt and angry, Wilhelm then announced that he would go home to Chicago after this fall's congressional elections. Wilhelm's fate made for constant speculation inside the Beltway. The Clinton loyalist has been made a scapegoat for election losses since 1992 and is disdained by Democrats who believe he wasn't doing enough to prevent a rout in November's ballot. Some congressional Democrats complained that Wilhelm was so intent on using D.N.C. funds to promote Clinton programs like health-care reform that he has given short shrift to Democratic candidates hungry for support. Mikulski, who sees herself as the protector of the Senate's women, griped about Wilhelm's refusal to spend another $1 million on advertising in California, where Senator Dianne Feinstein is facing an extremely rough challenge from Republican Congressman Michael Huffington. Wilhelm had already invested $1 million in California. Overall, in fact, he has devoted a total of $10 million to date to the midterm races. That exceeds by far what previous chairmen spent. But Democrats are desperate this year.

So anxious that last week the White House called on a sullied though solid political operator. When Tony Coelho quit the House in 1989, he held the third-ranking party post and seemed destined to be Speaker. But he had accepted a questionable loan to buy junk bonds. Rather than undergo an ethics probe, he embarked on a successful investment-banking career.

Though the Justice Department found no cause for action against him, the lingering memory kept Coelho from an official role in the Administration. But he is much admired by several of Clinton's younger aides, including senior adviser George Stephanopoulos, who were House staff members during Coelho's congressional heyday as adroit fund raiser and campaign tactician. He has served as an informal adviser for more than a year. Coelho's stock at the White House rose higher when Leon Panetta became chief of staff. They had once been twin stars of the California House delegation -- Panetta the policy wonk, Coelho the practical politician.

With the party facing serious losses this fall and Clinton's relations with Congress tenuous, Panetta looked to his old buddy for help. The slot as unpaid "senior adviser" to the national committee -- strategist as well as front man -- is a way of easing Coelho back into action on a trial basis. If Coelho's 1989 problem fades as a public issue, he will be eligible for full rehabilitation next year. Insiders are already predicting that he will wind up with a plum assignment: heading Clinton's re-election committee.

With reporting by NINA BURLEIGH/WASHINGTON