Economist In Lead for D.C. Board; Andrew F. Brimmer Being Considered for Chairman, Sources Say
Former Federal Reserve Board member Andrew F. Brimmer, a highly regarded economist who has studied the District's economy and served on numerous corporate boards, has emerged as an early candidate to run the powerful new D.C. financial control board, sources familiar with the selection process said yesterday.</br></br>Brimmer has the preliminary backing of federal budget director Alice M. Rivlin, who is advising President Clinton on the nominations, and Brimmer has discussed the job with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), whom the president pledged to consult on his choice, sources said. The 68-year-old Harvard-educated economist is president of a District-based economic consulting firm and lives in the District.</br></br>"He would be excellent," said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House D.C. subcommittee and author of the control board bill. "It is hard to quarrel with a name like that."</br></br>No final decisions have been made about who will run the board, and candidates other than Brimmer, a Democrat, remain under consideration, sources said. Rivlin, who declined to comment yesterday, has said Clinton will appoint the five-member board that will oversee the District government next month.</br></br>Senior congressional and Clinton administration sources also said yesterday that several strong candidates for board seats other than chairman have surfaced. They include Terry Golden, a Republican who formerly headed the General Services Administration, and Charles O. Rossotti, a Republican business consultant.