In the Clinton administration, Ickes served as Deputy Chief of Staff under Leon Panetta. In a lengthy New York Times profile of Ickes in 1997, Michael Lewis nicknamed Ickes "the Garbage Man" and noted that 'Ickes has been caught up in so many of Clinton's scandals and crises that he came to describe his function in the White House as 'director of the sanitation department'.' When Erskine Bowles was appointed Chief of Staff after Clinton's 1996 re-election, he requested to have input in choosing his subordinates, and so Ickes was dismissed from his position. It has also been suggested that Ickes resigned to take the fall for President Clinton, as Republican Senator Fred Thompson had the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee probe Clinton's campaign finances.