Leaky Transition

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If the transition is any omen, the Clinton Administration may become the leakiest ever. Cabinet appointments have almost all been so authoritatively predicted in advance that the actual announcements are far overshadowed by the next round of hot tips. On Thursday, Clinton named Henry Cisneros, former mayor of San Antonio, Texas, to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Jesse Brown, a wounded Vietnam veteran, to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Their appointments were only the No. 3 news item out of Little Rock that day. No. 1: Wisconsin Democrat Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, will be named Secretary of Defense this week. No. 2: Clinton has settled on Richard Riley, former Governor of South Carolina, as Secretary of Education, instead of Johnnetta Cole (or so say the leakers). That indicates the President-elect is shying away from people who might face tough confirmation hearings. Conservatives have tried to link Cole, head of Atlanta's Spelman College, to pro-Palestinian and pro-Cuban groups. Retiring Colorado Senator Timothy Wirth is said to have lost his chance to be Secretary of Energy because confirmation questioners might challenge his associations with savings and loans in his state.