OTHER NEWS - April 4, 1994

Former Reagan Aide Admits Addictions: Larry Kudlow, whose meteoric Wall Street career led to a post as adviser to President Ronald Reagan, now admits he’s a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. The conservative economist says he’s been sober for more than a year. Getting high helped him deal with work demands, he told the New York Times. “You think you’re a superman, you think you can do anything,” Kudlow said in a story published Sunday. Today, I see how tough it was.” Kudlow, 46, was the strategist behind the tax-cut plan that helped propel Christie Whitman to an upset victory in the New Jersey governor’s race last year. He advises other Republicans such as Jack Kemp and Rush Limbaugh. After Reagan was elected in 1980, Kudlow was named chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget under David Stockman. He was a leading proponent of “supply-side economics”--tax cuts aimed at stimulating economic growth. He said he began drinking regularly in the late 1970s and then began using illegal drugs, which he wouldn’t name. Fifteen months ago he took time off work from his Wall Street job to enter a drug rehabilitation program. He attends a program for recovering addicts as often as twice a day, and he fears a relapse.