January 28, 1994

Bowing to pressure for political change that has been heightened by the peasant uprising in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico's governing party agreed today to much tougher campaign spending limits and a more impartial choice of election officials. In a formal pact that was the first under the five-year-old Government of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari to include the main leftist opposition, the country's leading political parties agreed to reduce the amount of money candidates can spend by 80 percent. They also pledged new steps to equalize their access to the news media and to impose new limits on the political use of Government funds and programs.

The second-highest official at the Justice Department, Philip B. Heymann, announced his resignation today, an abrupt departure that added to the long list of personnel problems that have plagued the Clinton Administration. At a news conference, both Attorney General Janet Reno and Mr. Heymann, the Deputy Attorney General, blamed a lack of chemistry between them for his resignation.

New York City Schools Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines said yesterday that he would cut up to a thousand jobs from Board of Education headquarters staff through attrition and layoffs, reduce the use of consultants and temporary workers, and give community districts responsibility for hundreds of curriculum and staff development experts. "We have a hiring freeze in place, but I probably will recommend layoffs," he said, which could eliminate up to one in four jobs at the legendary bureaucracy at the board's headquarters at 110 Livingston Street. "I don't want to be in the business of making jobs for people."

The Securities and Exchange Commission's proposals to amend the way the nation's stock markets go about their business got a cautious review from market participants yesterday, even though the changes the S.E.C. seeks are, by its own admission, fairly modest. "It is tough to make incrementalism dramatic," said Brandon Becker, head of the S.E.C.'s Division of Market Regulation, which conducted the study. "But I hope all investors will be happy that the commission has tried to put their interests first, and that the exchanges will say this is a balanced report."

F.C.C. RETREATS ON INFINITY PURCHASE Penned in by a recent court decision that struck down Federal restrictions on "indecent" broadcasting, the Federal Communications Commission is on the verge of letting the company that employs Howard Stern buy a big Los Angeles radio station. D2. NEW YORK CITY