On A Slippery Slope

As a swelling storm of criticism buffeted his chief of staff last week, the President finally came to John Sununu's defense. Bush did not deny that his right-hand man had made frequent flights on Air Force executive jets -- including trips to ski resorts and his New Hampshire home -- that have cost taxpayers more than $500,000 during the past two years. And while the President conceded that the White House rules requiring the chief of staff to fly only in military aircraft may need adjustment, he insisted that Sununu "complied with the existing policy."

That may be narrowly true in the case of the flights. But what Sununu did once he got off the planes is beginning to raise serious ethical questions and, in at least one case, points to the possibility of unlawful conflict of interest. During a three-day ski trip to Aspen, Colo., last December, Sununu in effect received free lift tickets, lodging and meals in return for speaking at an annual ski-industry conference. In addition, the $802 round-trip airfare for his wife Nancy was paid for by the American Ski Federation. The federation is a Washington-based lobbying arm for the ski industry -- not a nonprofit educational group as claimed on documents released by the White House.

Pressed for an explanation late last week, a White House spokesman said Sununu had "assumed" that an educational charity, the American Ski Foundation, had actually footed the bill for Mrs. Sununu's airfare and their daily expenses. "We took their word for it," said the aide. In fact, the foundation has been inactive for several years, and currently has less than $100 in its bank account. Says Joe Prendergast, who heads the American Ski Federation: "We used to have a foundation. It's defunct now."

The distinction between the two organizations is crucial. Federal law prohibits officials from accepting payment for travel, lodging and other expenses related to an official trip unless paid for by a charitable or educational organization. According to an official statement, the federation is a nonprofit trade group engaged in lobbying on "state and federal legislation." For such an organization to pay his wife's expenses, a White House counsel conceded, would be "tantamount to a gift to him."

Sununu and his aides were scrambling last weekend to find a way to get a real charitable foundation to again reimburse the government for his Aspen boondoggle. A senior official told the Washington Post that the ski industry "may have made a mistake" and "may have to shift the payment." It was unclear how an empty-pocketed, defunct charity would find the money to make the accounts right. Also unclear was how much the episode had shaken George Bush's faith in his top aide. At best, Sununu has embarrassed himself and his boss. At worst, he might even share the fate of his idol Sherman Adams, the New Hampshire Governor who was forced out as Dwight Eisenhower's chief of staff in 1958 after accepting a $500 vicuna coat from Bernard Goldfine, a Boston textile magnate.