The toughest fire he faced from the press was on March 19, 1987, in his first news conference after he acknowledged that his administration had sold arms to Iran and helped the contras in Nicaragua.

"This administration is selling the federal government at bargain basement prices to their corporate friends, who then make campaign contributions back," Mr. Harnage said.

And the United States attorney's office is investigating allegations that Mr. James's administration sold city land to a friend for cut-rate prices.

The administration of Mayor Sharpe James has been selling land for $4 per square foot or less to private developers who planned to build one- to three-family houses, then sell them on the open market.

To get the money, the administration must sell its strategy not only to Congress, but also to state and local politicians and law-enforcement officials, who tend toward greater skepticism about the value of treatment for criminals.

Here's the problem: The administration can't sell "Brand Terror" unceasingly for four and a half years and then condescendingly expect Americans to wrap their heads immediately around "Brand Dubai."

According to Stanley Turkel, the club's former chairman and current archivist, the club was subsidized through the Depression by its president, Richard Childs, but a new administration sold the building in the 1940's.

In 10 months the new administration has sold 868 cars for $903,000 and cut storage costs to $100 a day.

But the campaign for privatization provided an object lesson in how the administration sells its policies: by misrepresenting its goals, lying about the facts and abusing its control of government agencies.

For several decades, administration after administration has sold Saudi Arabia and other Arab states first-rate modern weapons, against the all-out opposition of Israel and the lobby.