Loyal lobbyists were rewarded with earmarks, leadership support for special amendments and the delegated authority to write legislative provisions.
Last week, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida wrote legislative leaders in his state to warn them about anticipated revenue shortfalls, including the expected loss of $210 million from the estate tax in the 2002-03 fiscal year.
wrote, "State legislative action on this matter will be a significant challenge and progress on this proposal is largely outside of the city's control".
Energetic governors, by contrast, can write a legislative resume that cuts across many fields and can be marketed as a coherent body of work.
"He agreed to 'end welfare as we know it' on Republican terms that were very different from his original terms," said Kent Weaver, a political scientist at the Brookings Institution who has written a legislative history of the law.
Judge Norton, appointed by the elder President George Bush, wrote, "The legislative history of this act supports a finding that Congress did not intend to impose a universal notice-posting requirement on employers, nor did it authorize the board to do so".
In The Washington Post this week, Noel Koch, who as a Nixon speechwriter wrote a legislative message on the draft's end, said nonetheless that the draft had "shattered class distinctions" in the military, mixing high school dropouts with college graduates, rich with poor.
Should negotiations fail, she wrote, "the legislative and executive branches will move with speed and unity, backed by America's allies, to institute even tougher sanctions", a suggestion that punitive measures on Iran will remain an option should Clinton be elected president.
After consultation, these will be written into legislative proposals by the end of the year.
However, while the script was being written, a legislative proposal to tax such property was under consideration.
