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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release January 14, 1999

            PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES LORRAINE PRATTE LEWIS 
         AS INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

The President today announced his intent to nominate Lorraine Pratte Lewis as Inspector General of the Department of Education.

Ms. Lorraine P. Lewis, of Washington, DC, has served as General Counsel at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) since 1993. She is the chief legal advisor to the Director of OPM, and has led the legal support of reinvention initiatives, including the privatization of two major OPM programs and the abolishment of the Federal Personnel Manual. From 1987 to 1993, she served with the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee as General Counsel, Counsel, and Assistant Counsel. She played a lead role in the development and passage of the 1988 Inspector General Act Amendments and the Civil Liberties Restoration Act. She also conducted oversight of the federal inspector general offices. In 1986, Ms. Lewis was a volunteer attorney for the Washington Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where she assisted staff attorneys in conducting employment and fair housing discrimination litigation. From 1984 to 1985, she was an associate at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Feder and Etes, where she represented and advised trustees of multi-employer benefit funds, pension beneficiaries and unions. She was a field attorney with the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago from 1982 to 1984.

Ms. Lewis received a B.A. degree from Yale University and a J.D. degree from Harvard University.

The Inspector General of the Department of Education is responsible for conducting investigations and audits of all Department activities to promote efficiency and prevent fraud and abuse.

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