Last Licks

Ever since he moved into the White House, Ronald Reagan has complained that Government ethics laws are based on a double standard: while they regulate the activities of former members of the Executive Branch, they do not apply to ex-Congressmen and ex-Senators. Last week, by pocket-vetoing a tough measure that would have restricted lobbying by former federal employees, including members of Congress and their top aides, the President missed his last chance to unhinge the revolving door through which officials turn into lobbyists after leaving the Government.

The bill, hastily passed before the pre-election congressional recess, contained a one-year prohibition on legislators from lobbying former colleagues and a lifetime ban on lobbying by Executive Branch officials on any matter in which they had been involved. The President said he refused to sign the measure because he feared that it might deter qualified people from accepting Government jobs.

George Bush, who endorsed a tougher Senate version of the bill during the campaign, said he would introduce his own ethics legislation. But odds are slim that Congress, without the pressure of an election, will enact a stricter ethics law affecting its own members. Observed Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank: "There were a lot of votes behind this bill, but not a lot of support."

Killing the ethics bill was but the latest controversial step taken by an Administration no longer worried about Bush's electoral chances. Since the election the Reagan Administration has:

-- Directed Solicitor General Charles Fried to file a brief with the Supreme Court urging a reappraisal of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that guarantees a woman's right to an abortion.

-- Issued an Executive Order allowing the licensing of nuclear-power plants in areas where local officials have refused to develop emergency-evacuation plans.

-- Sent notices threatening to foreclose more than 83,000 financially troubled farmers, who owe the Government some $8 billion.

Reagan officials frankly acknowledge that these actions were delayed to help Bush politically. But by firing so many provocative parting shots, the outgoing Administration may be harming the spirit of cooperation with Congress that Bush will need once he starts to govern.