GOP Aide Quits in Furor Over Memo on Foley

WASHINGTON —  A Republican Party official, accused of attempting to smear House Speaker Thomas S. Foley by innuendo in a widely circulated memo, resigned Wednesday amid a bipartisan backlash and President Bush’s description of the document as “disgusting.”

Mark W. Goodin, director of communications for the Republican National Committee, admitted using “extraordinarily bad judgment” but said he acted without the knowledge or approval of his boss, GOP National Chairman Lee Atwater.

But Ron Brown, head of the Democratic National Committee, called on the President to demand Atwater’s resignation on grounds that a single staff aide could not take the entire blame for a Republican Party “up to its knees in sewer-style politics.”

In a statement that could stoke partisan fires on Capitol Hill, Brown said the President could stop the smears “by telling his operatives to stop spreading rumors, stop spreading dirt and get rid of the negative campaign playbook.”

However, Marlin Fitzwater, Bush’s spokesman, said the President personally told Atwater of his displeasure with the memo, saying he thought it was “disgusting.”

John H. Sununu, the White House chief of staff, also was quoted as saying he had reprimanded Atwater for the memo. In an interview published in today’s editions of the New York Times, Sununu said: “The President was very upset. I was upset. It went too far. It was wrong.”

Apologizes to Foley

Atwater, who developed a reputation for tough tactics when he managed Bush’s election triumph last year, telephoned an apology to Foley on Tuesday night, and the new Speaker said Wednesday that he considered the episode closed.

But some of his fellow Democrats said the resignation of Goodin and denunciations of his anti-Foley memo by Republicans were no guarantee that similar attacks would not occur again so long as Atwater remains in charge of the GOP political team.

The document, describing Foley as “out of the liberal closet” and comparing his voting record with that of Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of two self-declared homosexual members of the House, was denounced by both Democratic and Republican leaders.

“Good riddance,” said Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas when he learned of Goodin’s departure. “This isn’t politics--this is garbage.”

Dole said the memo, which was sent to GOP leaders, crossed the line of acceptable political conduct, adding: “I would guess this is a deliberate effort on the part of some to smear Tom Foley on his first day as Speaker . . . .”

Insinuations Called False

Foley, who had lunch at the White House with Bush and House GOP leader Robert H. Michel of Illinois, said that the apparent insinuations in the Goodin memo were totally false.

“I think the attack dogs will be curbed,” Foley said on the NBC “Today” program as he continued to promote a conciliatory mood after months of interparty tension stemming from the ethics investigation of his predecessor, Jim Wright of Texas.

Michel, talking to reporters after the White House lunch, said the resignation of Goodin was a welcome development.

“When we see a wrong in the party, we attempt to right it,” he said. “We’re not going to seek majority status (in the House) over the bodies of Democratic members.”

Offended by Memo

Rep. Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.), chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, said he was offended by the “stupid and juvenile” memo written by Goodin, but he rejected the idea that Atwater should resign as chairman because of the flap.

“Lee is tough. He’s hard-nosed, but he isn’t dirty,” Edwards asserted.

Goodin, who headed the Republican National Committee’s new $1-million “opposition research” staff, which is assigned to seek out damaging information about Democratic candidates for use in the 1990 congressional elections, resigned in a letter to Atwater.

“At no time did I ever intend to damage anyone’s reputation,” Goodin wrote. “Nonetheless, the purpose of the memorandum has been misconstrued. And, in that regard, I have no one to blame but myself.”

He said he had cited Frank in the memo only for comparison because of Frank’s liberal record, not his sexual orientation.

Despite Republicans’ quick efforts to contain the damage, some Democrats said they regarded Goodin as a low-level functionary who should not bear the full responsibility for the circulation of the anti-Foley memo.

Bush ‘Is the Good Cop’

“What happened to the captain of the ship?” asked Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), alluding to Atwater. “George (Bush) is the good cop and Lee (Atwater) is the bad cop. Lee does these things, then says: ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ and throws out a bit player.”

Rep. William H. Gray III (D-Pa.), who contends that he also was the target of a Republican smear attempt recently, said of the GOP National Committee: “There’s been a lot of bad judgments made over there recently. They had a conference call . . . trying to smear me.”

Edward J. Rollins, deputy chairman of the House Republican Campaign Committee, said politics has changed in the last decade or so.

‘We Try to Get Too Cute’

“In the last 10 or 12 years, we’ve gotten to where we are really playing a hardball game, and sometimes we try to get too cute,” he said at a breakfast with reporters.

“I think there is a need for calming down this environment . . . . For us as party partisans to be out spreading any kind of rumors is totally irresponsible. And, if I found it going on in my own committee, I’d fire the person who did it.”