■ If anyone knows how to snatch an uncertain truce from the jaws of certain victory, it has to be George Bush. Last issue Cato highlighted the coming battle over reform of the Legal Services Corporation, a federal boondoggle set up to help poor people, but now concerned mainly with rewriting the Constitution along lines that would have even Michael Dukakis reconsidering his stand on the Pledge of Allegiance. The 11-member board has been bitterly divided between six pro-reform conservatives and five status-quo liberals. But when one of these conservatives resigned and the recess appointment of another ran out, the Left had planned to use its new 5 to 4 majority to purge reformers from the ranks—unless the President restored the balance with two new recess appointments.
Well, he did and he didn’t. J. Blakely Hall, the Reagan appointee whose recess appointment had expired, was renamed to the board. But for the second seat Mr. Bush settled on former Congressman John Erlenborn (R., Ill.). Signs are that the Honorable Mr. Erlenborn is not fully committed to a reform agenda that includes holding LSC to the same waste, fraud, and abuse statutes that apply to every other agency.
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