Hill and Schumer Getting Along — More or Less

By TIMOTHY J. BURGER
Daily News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - For a couple of Democratic senators, naming a Manhattan courthouse for the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall shouldn't be controversial.

But in the world of New York politics, it is remembered as the day Hillary Rodham Clinton blindsided Chuck Schumer.

"That's the time that Hillary 'Schumed' the Schume," one source said, referring to Schumer's reputation for poaching headlines on other politicians' pet issues.

"Schumer personally berated Hillary's staff about it," said a well-placed source. "It got quite stiff."

Like almost any pair of senators, Clinton and Schumer are throwing a few elbows and looking over their shoulders at each other as they settle into their new roles. He is the state's senior senator, but she is the former First Lady and one of the Democrats' most effective fund-raisers.

The March 21 courthouse clash began when Clinton gave Schumer last-minute notice that she wanted to introduce a bill renaming the courthouse for Thurgood Marshall. It revealed tensions well-known to their aides and confidants, despite general harmony, regular private dinners and concerted efforts to portray them as being in step.

Schumer denies he scolded Clinton's staff over the courthouse naming and said it was a mild misunderstanding based on his hope to name the courthouse for the first black female federal judge, Constance Baker Motley.

"The two senators traditionally talk together about naming a courthouse. ... She didn't know [that], and we said, 'Hey, in the future we'll sit down and talk about these things,'" Schumer told the Daily News. "My guess is she'll defer to me on the Brooklyn one and Long Island."

Clinton loyalists said they knew what they were doing and feared Schumer might preempt her in announcing the bill.

"You can't tell the guy anything," said a Clinton partisan. "If we had given him advance notice, he'd have run with it."

Clinton insisted yesterday she didn't plot to cut out Schumer and blamed herself for a "misunderstanding about the protocol."

She stopped short of saying she'll let Schumer name the other courthouses, saying, "I'm very willing to take his advice" as a member of the committee that decides.

"We're having a very good relationship, and he has been a terrific guide and mentor," she added.

Her only complaint is that Schumer insists on "the same Chinese restaurant" on Capitol Hill when it's his turn to pick the spot for their regular dinners.

Most observers agree that Schumer and Clinton seem to be playing reasonably well together in the ego-riven Senate sandbox.

"I don't know how Hillary's doing with Chuck, but it seems to me that they're working out well," said Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan).

Rep. John McHugh (R-Watertown) also hasn't seen a senatorial set-to, "and I've sure as hell been keeping an eye out for it."

Schumer has even snapped pictures for tourists posing with Clinton, whose celebrity status shows no signs of waning.

Last month, for example, as she was rushing to make a Capitol elevator, Schumer appeared from nowhere as a group of girls sought a photo.

"I'll take the picture," Schumer said. He shot it, passed the camera back, and walked away, "a little smile on his face like a deed well done," an observer said.

Said Schumer: "We're a good team, and she's really easy to work with."

But a well-placed Democratic source friendly with both senators said "there's a fair amount of personal tension between them — but the competition will make them work even harder."

Some noticed it during a recent delegation meeting in March when Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) called attention to the need to fund safety improvements in the Penn Station tunnels. Clinton suggested they hold a news conference in a tunnel wearing hard hats.

Schumer — who is known for his love of photo-ops — drew "a few quiet smiles" when he pooh-poohed the idea, saying it could detract from other mass-transit needs, a source sad.

"The way it came across," said one source, was that Schumer, "didn't want Hillary Clinton to get publicity."

"I didn't perceive it that way at all," Clinton said. "I read it as a note of caution.... [Schumer's] point was a valid one, as was Congressman King's."

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2001