ROMLEY APPARENTLY REJECTED IN BID TO BE U.S. DRUG CZAR

Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said his bid to become America's
drug czar has fallen short because President Bush apparently is
leaning toward a more hawkish candidate for the job.

Although there has been no confirmation by White House officials, the
Internet political site salon.com reported Friday that John Walters, a
former deputy director at the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
will be named to run the agency.

Romley said U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., confirmed the report on
Walters in a telephone conversation.

"I was not able to fit the bill," Romley said. "I did not have
Washington ties. I did not know how to play the game. . . . I think it
was an honor that I got to the level I did."

The White House press office did not respond to calls for
comment.

Romley said he thought the job was his after an interview at the White
House in January and after repeated requests for information from the
Bush administration. Although he has not been formally notified, he
said he thinks Bush decided to pick someone more in tune with the
nation's capital.

Romley declined to comment on the selection of Walters, whose approach
to drug control focuses on heavy law enforcement with stiff penalties
for dealers and users. Walters, who could not be reached Friday, has
attacked America's tolerant attitudes, blaming the national culture
for rampant drug abuse. In congressional testimony, he also criticized
President Clinton's drug czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, for a "lousy
policy" on drug control.

Romley said he told Bush aides the only hope is a multipronged
campaign that puts more money into prevention and less into chasing
drug dealers or curing addicts. He pointed out that the United States
spends $19 billion a year fighting drugs, an ever-growing amount that
goes mostly for police, prosecution and prisons, to no avail.

"I am totally against legalization," he said. "It is so simplistic for
such a complicated problem. . . . (But) new money should not be going
toward law enforcement. New resources have to be put into treatment
and prevention."

A Vietnam War veteran, Romley said anti-drug efforts keep failing
because U.S. presidents employ the same fruitless tactics: stressing
how much dope has been seized and how many traffickers have been
jailed. That method is reminiscent of the body counts announced to
war-weary Americans during Vietnam, Romley said.

By contrast, he advocates a campaign that ballyhoos reduced drug usage
and anti-dope attitudes among youths. That can work, Romley said, only
if Bush finds a way to unify public sentiment.

"The policies of the past are inadequate for the challenges of the
future," he said. "You have to build a consensus. When we as a nation
come together, we generally overcome the most difficult issues."