Out of Commissions

Back in January, President Nixon an nounced the appointment of nine new members to a commission on marijuana and drug abuse. Last month he flatly told a press conference that if that commission turns out to favor legalizing pot, "I will not follow that recommendation." That was only the latest example of how a President can ignore his commissions unless they agree with what he wants to do. Often their main function is only to convey the impression that the President is actively responding to a national crisis. By the time the commission completes its report, passions over the triggering events are likely to have subsided, and the recommendations can then be dutifully examined and quietly discarded.

Nixon is especially fond of the study-commission tactic. He has appointed nearly 50 of them; the annual cost of this presidential predilection is about $10 million. He even named two on oil imports. The first one urged the lifting of restrictions against imports, so he appointed a second that suggested no changes -- the result he wanted all along.

Senator Edward Kennedy heads a subcommittee that is now holding hearings on the use and abuse of presidential commissions. It is expected to urge that they be created more sparingly and that a Cabinet member be assigned to follow through on each commission's recommendations. President Nixon may well appoint a commission to decide what to do about the Kennedy report on commissions -- and then shelve the resulting recommendations.

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