Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 21, 1993 TAG: 9305210242
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Officials said the reason was a review that showed "gross financial mismanagement" of the office, not complaints raised by a Hollywood friend of the president.
White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos said Harry Thomason, a producer and close friend of the Clintons, had "passed on information" that a friend in the charter business had asked to bid on White House travel business and been rebuffed.
Thomason, who attended the briefing in which the firings were announced Wednesday, was not seeking business for a charter company in which he has an interest, Stephanopoulos said.
Two of the fired employees Thursday challenged the White House assertion that gross mismanagement of travel office records made it "prudent" to call in the FBI and remove the group. Billy Dale, who had headed the office, and Barnaby Brasseaux, an employee, said no money was missing and no one in the office had misappropriated funds.
The White House announced that Catherine Cornelius, a 25-year-old cousin of the president and a former campaign aide, would head the office and that its financial operations would be overseen by a financial expert.
Career White House employees have no Civil Service protection and can be fired for any reason and without appeal. Some workers in the unit that handles correspondence were fired early in the Clinton term.
Two of the seven travel office workers said that when they were told of their firings, the major reason they were given as a group was the White House effort to reorganize and pare down its operation.
Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., asked for documents about the firings. He wrote the White House, "I am concerned that these dismissals, occurring without any opportunity to allow the accused to defend themselves, do not seem fair."
by CNB