Clinton Wraps Up His Diverse High Command : Appointees: The 23 men and 8 women provide a striking contrast with the last several administrations.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. —  Seven weeks after he began, President-elect Bill Clinton completed his Administration’s top team Thursday--assembling a group that meets his promise of the most diverse Cabinet in American history but also personifies many of the unresolved tensions of Clinton’s “New Democrat” message.

On the final day of his search, Clinton named Zoe Baird, the general counsel of Aetna Life and Casualty Co., as the nation’s first female attorney general. He also picked the heads of six other departments and agencies, including former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt to head the Interior Department, Rep. Mike Espy (D-Miss.) for Agriculture and former Denver Mayor Federico Pena for Transportation.

Clinton also chose former campaign chairman Mickey Kantor as U.S. trade representative, Arkansas’ health department director M. Joycelyn Elders for surgeon general and John Gibbons, head of the congressional Office of Technology Assessment, as White House science adviser.

The announcements ended several days of mounting tension in the Clinton camp as virtually all major interest groups in the Democratic Party pressed for their particular candidates.

In announcing Baird’s appointment, Clinton made a point of saying the Justice Department under Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bush has “been through troubled times.” The department “has been poorly administered and torn apart by infighting,” he said.

The remarks reflect a belief by Clinton and his advisers that Republican appointees have sought to politicize the department, pushing for conservative ideological victories rather than offering a neutral interpretation of the law.

On Thursday, Baird declined to comment on any specific policies she would push, saying only that the department would be “firm in its prosecution of crime” and would “be committed to the principled, deliberate advancement of civil rights, environmental protection and economic fairness.”

Although she is fairly well known within the legal community and by government insiders, Baird has a lower public profile than many other Clinton appointees. Word of her appointment came as a surprise to many when it spread late Wednesday.

Some public interest lawyers in Washington expressed reservations about her nomination Thursday, noting that Aetna had tried to push through a bill earlier this year that would limit corporate liability for defective products.

Elders will not take the surgeon general’s job until June, when the current job holder, Antonia Coello Novello, has agreed to leave office. Unlike most top federal officials, Novello does not automatically lose her job when the White House changes hands.

Until then, the outspoken Elders will serve as a special assistant to the secretary of Health and Human Services. Clinton praised his nominee as “plain spoken,” and she demonstrated that at the press conference, saying she would urge school districts nationwide to adopt programs to allow school-based health clinics to give contraceptives to students. The best way to reduce the number of abortions in the country is to reduce unwanted pregnancies, Elders said.

Clinton ended his major appointments amid a chorus of competing voices from interest groups, each with its own choice for a key position. In the end, aides realized that any further delay beyond Clinton’s self-imposed Christmas deadline would only intensify the pressures.

Clinton reveled in his picks so far. “They come from diverse backgrounds, and we will all be better and stronger for that diversity,” he said.

And indeed, simply as a visual package, the 23 men and eight women Clinton has appointed over the past few weeks provide a striking contrast with the last several administrations.

There is the much discussed matter of racial diversity. Clinton has chosen four black Cabinet members, picked African-Americans for two other senior posts and tapped Latinos to head two Cabinet departments--the largest number of minority group members ever to hold such senior positions.

At the same time, however, Clinton in several cases did not appoint the people pushed by leaders of minority or women’s groups.

Although he appointed a second Latino Cabinet member, for example, Clinton passed over Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), whom Latino leaders favored for Interior secretary. And while he appointed a female attorney general, as sought by women’s organizations, he passed over Brooksley Born, who many of the groups wanted.

Espy, the Cabinet’s fourth black member, has long had cool relations with many Congressional Black Caucus colleagues who think he is too conservative.

But the contrasts with the Bush team go beyond race and gender.

Clinton did choose older men with steady, reassuring presences for two key posts--Lloyd Bentsen, 71, as Treasury secretary and Warren Christopher, 67, as secretary of state.

But during the press conferences announcing Clinton’s various appointments, the sounds of young children watching from off-stage have been a constant reminder that just as the 46-year-old Clinton will take office as one of the youngest Presidents in American history, so, too, most of his appointees represent a political coming of age for a new generation.

Among Thursday’s nominees, for example, Baird is 40--one of the youngest attorneys general in the century--while Pena is 45 and Espy 39. Overall, with the exceptions of Bentsen and Christopher, the groups around Clinton’s Cabinet table will range from their mid-30s to their early 50s--a notably younger group than the advisers around Bush.

The Cabinet’s diversity extends to ideology as well, however. And this is a potential source of conflict as the Administration-in-waiting moves from personnel to policy.

Throughout his campaign, Clinton balanced appeals to the Democratic Party’s traditional constituencies with assertions of “new Democratic” ideas on issues such as welfare reform, criminal justice and reducing the size of government.

The Cabinet continues that balancing act, providing a little something for everyone.

Bentsen, for example, during his long congressional career has carefully watched after the interests of American business, advocating tax breaks for many large corporations and often voting to reduce environmental regulations.

Babbitt and Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner, by contrast, have been strong advocates of environmental controls. And Robert Reich, Clinton’s economic adviser and his nominee for labor secretary, has been an outspoken critic of the American business establishment and an advocate of a far broader government role in the economy than Bentsen has supported.

Many of the potential ideological fault lines in the new Administration will continue to be highlighted as competing groups fight over the next round of appointments--deputy secretaries, assistant secretaries and special assistants who actually make many of the policy decisions that Cabinet officials are called upon to execute.

Officials say two prominent California business figures are leading figures for a top post in the Commerce Department--Apple Computer executive Dave Barum and Roger W. Johnson, the head of Western Digital Corp. in Irvine.

Barum was a key organizer of support for Clinton in Silicon Valley while Johnson was the most prominent of the Republican business leaders in Orange County who endorsed Clinton during the campaign.

And so, while Thursday’s announcements close a chapter of the transition, they do not end the selection process.

“I’ve still got a lot of appointments to make,” Clinton told reporters after taking a three-mile jog on a cold, windy morning.

For the next week, however, the President-elect plans to relax. Shortly after making his announcements, Clinton headed off to a local bookstore with his daughter, Chelsea, for some last-minute Christmas shopping. Next week, the family plans to head to the South Carolina coast for an annual post-Christmas vacation.

Staff writer Ronald Brownstein in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

Completing the Team

Among President-elect Bill Clinton’s appointments Thursday:

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ATTORNEY GENERAL

Zoe Baird, 40, is general counsel for Aetna Life & Casualty Co. She was a legal aide in the Jimmy Carter White House.

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INTERIOR

Bruce Babbitt, 54, a former Arizona governor, is an outspoken advocate of preserving federal lands and protecting the environment.

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AGRICULTURE Rep. Mike Espy, 39, of Mississippi is a close Clinton ally. He is the only black congressman elected in his state this century.

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TRANSPORTATION

Federico Pena, 45, became Denver’s first Latino mayor in 1983. He helped to improve the city’s air quality and brought in a new airport.

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TRADE

Mickey Kantor, 53, is an influential Los Angeles attorney. He served as chairman of Clinton’s presidential campaign.

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How Diverse Is the Cabinet?

A demographic breakdown of President-elect Bill Clinton’s Cabinet: ANGLO FEMALE

Post Appointee Age Attorney General Zoe Baird 40 Health and Donna Shalala 51 Human Services

*BLACK FEMALE

Post Appointee Age Energy Hazel O’Leary 55

*ANGLO MALE

Post Appointee Age State Warren Christopher 67 Defense Les Aspin 54 Treasury Lloyd Bentsen 71 Labor Robert B. Reich 46 Education Richard W. Riley 59 Interior Bruce Babbitt 54

*BLACK MALE

Post Appointee Age Commerce Ronald H. Brown 51 Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown 48 Agriculture Mike Espy 39

*LATINO MALE

Post Appointee Age Housing and Urban Development Henry G. Cisneros 45 Transportation Frederico Pena 45

* RELATED STORIES: A39-A43