Rumors Hurt Tower’s Bid to Be Defense Chief : Texan’s ‘Personal Problems’ and Qualifications Under Fire in Post-Election Campaign of Attacks

WASHINGTON —  In the competition for jobs in the Bush Cabinet, no contest has been fought with greater ferocity or more intrigue than that for secretary of defense, certain to be a harsh and turbulent post.

John Tower, the diminutive Texan who once served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and arms control negotiator in the Reagan Administration, for months appeared to have a lock on the job. He has been a close adviser to Vice President George Bush on military matters and campaigned effectively across the country for the President-elect.

But in the 10 days since the election, Tower has been the target of a vigorous campaign of personal rumors and attacks on his qualifications that has left his nomination in doubt.

As each day passes without an announcement on the post, the prospects of several other strong candidates, including industry executives Paul H. O’Neill and Norman R. Augustine, and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, seem to be improving, some sources say.

The origin of the attacks on Tower is uncertain; Tower allies say they suspect that they are coming from the camp of James A. Baker III, the Bush confidant and secretary of state-designate, who is said to feel threatened by Tower because of Tower’s independence and his power base on Capitol Hill.

Baker denies that he is the source of the negative campaign and has apologized to Tower for the damaging leaks that Baker says have been falsely attributed to him.

Others suspect that the campaign is being fueled by military contractors whom Tower angered during his stint in Congress and by people allied with one or another potential candidate for the job.

The Tower case illustrates the ruthless maneuvering that goes on behind the scenes during a presidential transition when the biggest prize in politics--power--is at stake.

“It’s the season of the long knives,” said one top Pentagon official.

Until last week, Tower, 63, was considered a sure bet for the Pentagon post, which will require both managerial skill and political savvy to deal with a crushing budget shortfall, a major procurement scandal and a strong-willed Democratic majority in Congress.

Tower’s supporters, among them several members of the Bush high command, have long touted Tower’s special qualifications for the job: his 23 years in the Senate and extensive knowledge of the defense budget, his national security overview acquired as head two years ago of the U.S. team negotiating strategic arms reductions with the Soviet Union, his closeness to Bush and his formidable skill as a bureaucratic infighter.

Tower, now a defense consultant, has well-placed allies in Congress and at the Pentagon, where former Tower aides William L. Ball III and James F. McGovern serve as secretary of the Navy and undersecretary of the Air Force. Other Tower supporters occupy key posts in the current Administration and are collectively referred to as the “Tower mafia.”

Even before Bush’s victory on Nov. 8, observers were speculating about what senior Pentagon jobs Tower would give these officials in the new Administration.

‘Personal Problems’

Since the election, however, a flurry of reports about Tower’s supposed “personal problems” have surfaced in Washington, passed to the press by anonymous tipsters and to influential officials by those who claim to have no interest in the outcome of the race.

“I’ve heard all this, but it’s just so hard to tell whether there’s smoke or fire. There are just rumors galore,” said a Senate aide tracking the race. “It’s not a pleasant situation.”

Tower supporters contend that Bush has left Tower “twisting slowly in the wind” as the talk swirls in Washington. They say Bush should end the suspense--and Tower’s misery--by naming him defense secretary quickly.

Tower, according to these unsubstantiated stories, is a womanizer and has a drinking problem. The tales were inspired in part by Tower’s recent divorce from his second wife, Lilla, who charged “marital misconduct” in April, 1987, court papers and suggested that he carried on at least three affairs during their 10-year marriage--with a Texas television personality, a Dallas socialite and a Filipino maid in Geneva.

Deposition Sealed

Tower’s deposition responding to the charges has been sealed by agreement of both parties. But an aide called the charges “ludicrous.”

One particularly wild--and wholly unfounded--story has Tower barred from Australia because of a drunken spree there. Tower years ago did acknowledge a drinking problem, but according to associates Tower all but quit drinking more than a decade ago. He now takes only an occasional glass of wine, aides say.

On more substantive issues, Tower foes have said that Bush and Baker want to appoint a low-profile executive from industry to manage the Pentagon. According to these sources, Tower is too visible, too much of a threat to Baker and too inexperienced in nuts-and-bolts management.

This theory has appeared in recent days in little blurbs in the closely watched weekly Aviation Week & Space Technology (“Teetering Tower”) and in Newsweek’s “Periscope” column (“Is Tower Tough Enough?”).

In a strange twist that shows how far transition job applicants and their promoters will go, a zealous Tower ally admitted planting the Newsweek item--which said that Baker has “little personal regard” for Tower and is looking for a “tough businessman” to run the Pentagon.

The Tower backer, who said he acted without the former senator’s approval, said that he leaked the item to “smoke out” Baker on the issue. It worked. Even before the magazine appeared, Baker heard about the piece and called Tower to assure the Texan that he liked him and considered him qualified for the job, Tower associates said.

This week, anti-Tower forces leaked the allegation that Tower had committed an act of supreme political arrogance, asking Bush through intermediaries to allow him to name all of the Pentagon’s political appointees if he becomes secretary of defense. One of Tower’s close associates dismissed the report as “sheer nonsense.”

Others who oppose Tower--and there are many in industry and government--are pursuing an “anyone but Tower” strategy by dropping the names of other defense secretary candidates.

The names most often mentioned are that of O’Neill, former deputy director of the federal budget office and now chief executive of Aluminum Co. of America (Alcoa), and Augustine, 53, chief executive officer of Martin-Marietta, the nation’s seventh-largest defense contractor.

While O’Neill is not actively campaigning for the job, it is clear he would take it if asked. O’Neill has refused interview requests but issued a statement saying: “I am flattered by suggestions that I am being considered for a position in the new Administration. I am also certain there are many highly qualified people who are eager to assume the responsibilities of an assignment in government. For myself, I am happy and challenged in my work as chairman of Alcoa.”

Augustine, a Princeton-educated engineer who served two stints in the Pentagon in the 1960s, is touted as a crusty reformer and author of a book called “Augustine’s Laws,” in which he critiqued the Pentagon’s procurement process and recommended how to improve it.

Another of the purported candidates for the job is Rumsfeld, a former defense secretary, congressman, ambassador and chief executive officer of G. D. Searle, the big drug company. Rumsfeld says he is not running for the Pentagon post. “If (Bush) is smart enough to get elected, he’s smart enough to figure out who he wants,” Rumsfeld said. “So here I am in Chicago.”