Howard Paster, 66; Clinton aide who helped pass NAFTA

August 14, 2011|By Douglas Martin, New York Times

Howard G. Paster served as President Bill Clintons liaison to Congress… (Paul Hosefros/The New York…)

NEW YORK - Howard G. Paster, a consummate Washington insider whose effectiveness as a corporate lobbyist took him to the White House as President Bill Clinton’s liaison to Congress, where he helped push through the North American Free Trade Agreement, died Wednesday in Baltimore. He was 66 and lived in Washington.

Mr. Paster’s death, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, was caused by encephalitis, his wife, Gail, said. As Clinton’s principal ambassador to Congress at the time, Mr, Paster had to overcome the opposition of a majority of House Democrats to pass NAFTA, relying heavily on Republican support instead.

The agreement, which was phased in beginning in 1994, removed most tariff and nontariff barriers between the United States, Canada, and Mexico to create one of the world’s largest trading blocs. Together, the three nations produce $17 trillion in goods and services every year.

Facing predictions of failure, Mr. Paster and his team of 20 aides won a come-from-behind victory, in part by promising deals for farmers and offering job-training programs to bolster American workers.

“The horse trading is nothing but people defending their constituent interests, and that’s an entirely appropriate thing for them to do,’’ he said.

Mr. Paster, whose style could be brusque and whose rhyming nickname was Faster Paster, was less persuasive in selling Clinton’s package of measures to stimulate a faltering economy through public works, education grants, and the extension of unemployment benefits.

“It’s fair to say that the fact the stimulus bill did not pass is my responsibility,’’ Mr. Paster told The New York Times in May 1993. “I miscalculated over what it would take to negotiate a bill.’’

In December 1993, less than a year into the Clinton administration, Mr. Paster resigned to become the chairman and chief executive of the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton. In an interview with NPR, he said he lacked the stamina to continue. He was “not Superman,’’ he said.

In a statement Clinton said Mr. Paster had made a “tremendous difference’’ in carrying out his administration’s “crucial initiatives.’’

Howard George Paster was born Dec. 23, 1944, in Brooklyn and grew up in Nassau County, on Long Island. He graduated from Alfred University in western New York, where he edited the campus newspaper, then earned a degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Early in his career, he worked on the staffs of Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana and Representative Lester Wolff of New York, both Democrats.