Cayetano gives
Senate advice
concerning Anzai

Here's Gov. Ben Cayetano's advice for the Senate, which will have to decide whether to confirm or reject Earl Anzai as attorney general after ousting him as state budget director:

"I would hope that the senators -- in particular the freshmen -- understand the role of advise and consent. The guidelines are set in history, custom and tradition. If people want to chose their attorney general, then they should run for governor. In all other respects, I would hope they would give the executive branch as much leeway as possible to select the members of the Cabinet, or the team so to speak, just as they select their own staff and personnel."

Cayetano said he won't lobby senators on behalf of Anzai the way he did for Margery Bronster, whom the Senate fired as attorney general on the same day it booted Anzai from his budget post.

Mink gets call: WASHINGTON -- When President Clinton recently unveiled his plan to overhaul Medicare, Hawaii's Patsy Mink was by his side.

Mink had been invited to the White House announcement as one of four current members of Congress who were enthusiastic supporters of Medicare when it was created in 1965. The others, all Democrats like Mink, were Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Reps. John Dingell and John Conyers, both of Michigan.

"This must be a particularly happy day for them," Clinton said.

Mink represented Hawaii in the House from 1965 to 1977, when she quit to run unsuccessfully for the Senate. She returned to Congress in 1990.