Hiring of women admittedly slow, Reagan aide says

WASHINGTON – President Reagan’s chief of staff conceded Thursday that the administration has been slow in appointing women and members of minorities to high-level jobs. James A. Baker also was concerned ab?ut reports of “squabbling and turf fighting on foreign policy.” But Baker, one of tl}.e top three ~ite Ho’:18e staffers said the president successfully 18 changmg the fa~ of the federal government in what he termed the start of the “Reagan Revolution.” Speaking at the National Press Club, Baker said the administration has accelerated its efforts to place women in upper-level jobs. . “To the president, the selection of fine, distinguished people like Sandra O’Connor,” the president’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, “will not be the exception, but the trademark, of this administration.” “To be sure we have had our frustrations and disappointmen’ts,” he said, pointing to the controversy over Reagan’s proposals to revise the Social Security system. “We could have done a better job in the appointments process – both in the timeliness of the appointments and in the numbe~ of women and minorities in high posts,” Baker srud. “All of us, from the president on down, wo~d have been far happier had we see_n fewer stor_1es about squabbling and turf fightmg on foreign policy.” . During a question-and-answer sess1~n, Baker was critical of suggestions that he, ~1te House counselor Edwin Meese and deputy chief of st.aff Michael K. Deaver are running the government, and that Reagan is a