WASHINGTON INSIGHT

DROPOUT: Derek Shearer, the farthest left of Clinton’s economic advisers, has quit as a deputy undersecretary of commerce after less than three months on the job and will return to Occidental College this fall. He said he merely wants to be with his wife in Santa Monica as she recuperates from an operation. . . . He brushed off reports he was unhappy, saying, “That’s past.” One source said Shearer was disappointed that his longtime friendship with Clinton failed to gain him a higher post.