Deukmejian Aide Will Join Bush’s Staff

SACRAMENTO â€”  Larry Thomas, a top adviser to Gov. George Deukmejian, will become Vice President George Bush’s press secretary and one of the strategists for his expected 1988 presidential campaign, it was announced Tuesday.

Thomas is one of only a handful of Deukmejian insiders--both in and out of state government--and directed the governor’s landslide reelection victory last year over Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. After the election, he returned to the post of gubernatorial press secretary, a job he had held since the inception of the Deukmejian Administration in January, 1983.

Thomas, 39, resigned his $82,000-a-year post effective March 13 and will report to Bush on March 16. The new job will mean a pay cut of roughly $4,000, Thomas said Tuesday.

Deukmejian Chief of Staff Steven A. Merksamer said no replacement has been found for Thomas. Regardless of who is ultimately named the governor’s press secretary, however, it is doubtful whether Deukmejian will soon be able to fill the void in advisory ranks left by the departure of an aide he leans on heavily for both media and political counsel.

Thomas will replace Marlin Fitzwater, who left Bush’s staff last month to become President Reagan’s chief spokesman.

Bush’s selection of Thomas tends to strengthen even further a tie between Bush and Deukmejian, both of whom have cultivated each other politically and come from a wing of the GOP that might best be described as pragmatic, low-key and moderate-conservative. Bush chose Deukmejian to deliver his vice presidential nominating speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention.

What makes this tie particularly significant now is that Deukmejian is considering running as a “favorite son� in the 1988 California presidential primary. If he were to win the primary, Deukmejian then would be in a position to turn over California’s delegates--the largest bloc at the GOP convention--to the presidential contender that he and the delegation preferred. Deukmejian has recently emphasized that so far he is not committed to any candidate, but there is no question that he is closer to Bush than any of the other potential GOP contenders.

The prepared announcement by the vice president’s office of Thomas’ selection said the new press secretary--although he has never been involved in a presidential campaign--�will participate in the strategic planning of the vice president’s political activities.� Bush has not formally announced his presidential candidacy, but it is a foregone conclusion, despite recent slippage in national polls caused in large part by the Iran- contra scandal that has damaged the image of the Reagan Administration among voters.

In what appeared to be indicative of the image problems some presidential aides have suffered because of the Iran- contra controversy, Bush felt compelled in announcing his selection of a new press secretary to point out that “Larry enjoys a reputation in California for professional ability, honesty and integrity in media relations.�

Thomas is the latest in a long list of Californians to join the Reagan Administration during the past six years--including Craig Fuller, who as a UCLA student headed the intern staff for then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. Fuller, now Bush’s chief of staff, recruited Thomas to be the vice president’s press secretary.