Government: A New Lady for the Fed

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When Martha Seger was Michigan's Financial Institutions bureau commissioner in 1981 and 1982, a state senator said she was sometimes "pimping for the bankers." In reply, Seger later quipped, "The whores in the legislature are on such long-term contracts that they do not need pimps." With that spirit and wit, she should be able to stand the heat in her next job. Last week President Reagan nominated Seger, a professor of finance at Central Michigan University known for her free-market philosophy, to the seven-member Federal Reserve Board.

If approved by the Senate, Seger, 52, will replace Nancy Teeters, whose term ended in January, and become the second woman to sit on the board that sets U.S. monetary policy. The Administration, which has criticized the Federal Reserve for keeping interest rates high, hopes that the lanky Seger (6 ft. 1 in.) will be a strong ally. Says a senior Treasury official: "With high heels on, she may even be able to stand up to Fed Chairman Paul Volcker."