WASHINGTON Cheryl D. Mills, the White House lawyer who vaulted tofame when she represented President Clinton on the Senate floor inlast winter's impeachment trial, has turned down Clinton's offer tobe White House counsel.
If Mills had accepted the promotion, which Clinton suggestedearlier this summer, she would have become the first woman and thefirst African American to hold the pivotal post. But White Houseofficials said that Mills, after weeks of consideration, gave Clintonand Chief of Staff John D. Podesta her answer Friday: No thanks.
Mills, 34, who has been at the Clinton White House since 1993 andis known as a fierce Clinton loyalist, has agreed to serve forseveral weeks as acting White House counsel while the presidentsearches for another candidate to replace Charles F.C. Ruff, who hadheld the job since 1997 and served his last day Friday.
Despite Mills' rebuff, Clinton can boast of one precedent-settingappointment, effective today. He offered his top speech-writing postto Terry Edmonds, the first African American to hold that job.
Edmonds, who had held lower-ranking speech-writing posts forClinton before joining the Social Security Administration, has helpeddraft many of the president's major speeches on race relations.These included a June 1997 speech in San Diego inaugurating anattempted yearlong national "conversation" on race relations.
Clinton's appointment of a commission to study race relations hasbeen widely criticized as ineffectual, but Edmonds, 49, a graduate ofMorgan State University, is helping Clinton draft a book reportinghis own conclusions.
Edmonds won the job over two other candidates, sources said.
White House officials said there are a handful of candidates fromoutside the White House under consideration as a permanentreplacement for Ruff.
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