Bush Orders Review of Policy Requiring Taxpayers to Fund Costly Sununu Travel

WASHINGTON —  President Bush on Wednesday ordered a review of the policy that has required taxpayers to pick up the cost of extensive travel by White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, but he voiced “full confidence” in his chief aide.

“It is appropriate to take a look at the policy because I want our Administration to be above even the perception of impropriety,” Bush said. “If that policy leads to a perception problem, then I’ll take a look at it. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

In the meantime, however, Bush told reporters: “I don’t like this jumping all over Gov. Sununu when he has complied with the policy and he’s made full disclosure. What more can you ask for?”

And Sununu, for his part, brushed off a question about whether he believes that he is being unfairly singled out for criticism. “No. Anybody with a warm personality like I have has to go through these,” said Sununu, who has a widespread reputation for alienating members of Congress, fellow White House staff members and reporters.

Bush’s decision to review the White House travel guidelines came on the fourth day of a controversy over Sununu’s extensive taxpayer-subsidized travel. Records disclosed Tuesday by the White House show that Sununu made 77 trips on military planes over the last two years. He deemed most of the trips to be “official,” a designation that requires taxpayers to pick up the full costs, including four trips to ski resorts where he made speeches and then hit the slopes.

In four cases of “personal” travel and 24 “political” trips, Sununu or political campaign committees reimbursed the government. But the reimbursement was at the rate for a commercial flight, far less than the cost of operating the government planes that Sununu used--$3,945 an hour, according to the Air Force.

White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, who is in charge of ethics policy for the White House, will conduct the policy review. The General Accounting Office of Congress also plans to review Sununu’s travel expenses, acting on a request from congressional Democrats.

Wednesday’s pledge to review the policy was Bush’s first comment on the controversy involving Sununu. Ethics in general, however, has been a major issue for him.

In the wake of several scandals that marred the Ronald Reagan Administration, Bush made ethics one of the main subjects of his first meeting with Cabinet members. A few months after taking office, he issued an executive order directing his employees to “endeavor to avoid any actions creating the appearance that they are violating the law or . . . ethical standards.”

For now, Bush insists that Sununu did not breach that standard.

“The point is,” Bush said, Sununu “complied with the existing directives.

“I think he should be given credit for that. He made full--what I think is full--disclosure. And if people say it’s not full, we’ll ask for whatever else it is.”

In fact, the information disclosed by Sununu on Tuesday left several questions unanswered that the White House continued to avoid Wednesday.

One involves the exact wording of the current White House policy. On Monday, Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said the policy authorizes Sununu and National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft to use military planes but does not require them to do so. The policy requires the two officials to exercise discretion, he said. On Wednesday, by contrast, Fitzwater insisted that the policy is mandatory.

Adding to the confusion, White House officials have been unable to provide a copy of any written policy on the subject, giving reporters instead a 1987 letter from then-Secretary of State George P. Shultz urging then-President Reagan to make sure his chief of staff and national security adviser “always fly on Air Force planes.” No written presidential directive on the subject exists, and Shultz’s letter forms the basis for the current policy, Fitzwater said.

Another unanswered question involves when the government was reimbursed for Sununu’s personal and political trips. The list of trips the White House released shows only the amounts paid, not the dates. Fitzwater insisted that all the payments had been made before Sununu’s travel became a public issue but conceded that he had not personally seen all the documentation. Nonetheless, he said, the public has “Gov. Sununu’s word” that the payments were made properly.

The listings also do not show who made the payments. In response to questions from The Times, several political campaign committees confirmed that they had reimbursed the government for political appearances Sununu had made for their candidates.

In addition, the campaign committee that funded Sununu’s New Hampshire gubernatorial campaigns, which has roughly $250,000 in its bank account, paid the government $3,768 for his travel, according to disclosure statements filed in New Hampshire. The statements do not show which trips the payment covered.