Shoring Up a Shaken EPA

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Democratic Senator Daniel Moynihan stunned Lavelle with an alleged transcript of a meeting in her office in which she was quoted as warning a New York State hazardous-waste official, concerned about the sluggish Love Canal cleanup, not to complain directly to Moynihan. "We play hardball in California," she allegedly told the man.

Senator George Mitchell asked Lavelle about a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last December that reported she had told Missouri officials meeting in her office not to push hard for victim compensation on the dioxin problems there. "That will be playing right into the hands of Ted Kennedy," she was quoted as saying. Although Lavelle flatly denied making the comment, Theodore Bornstein, a Missouri state official who was at the November 1982 meeting, commented after the hearing, "She said it. I was a little flabbergasted."

The White House was understandably determined to cut its losses and get the country's mind on more pleasant thoughts, like growing signs of economic recovery from the recession. But it was not prepared to blame mere partisan politics for the flap over EPA. "Here we've got mothers who are concerned about toxic chemicals," observed an Administration official. "Any time it looks like you are looking out for big industry instead of the little guy, it is going to hurt you." — By Maureen Dowd. Reported by Jay Branegan/Washington