
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 26, 1993                   TAG: 9305260164
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

MOST FIRINGS REVERSED WHITE HOUSE: 5 ON LEAVE

The White House announced Tuesday that five of the seven White House travel office workers fired last Wednesday would instead be placed on leave with pay while White House Chief of Staff Thomas McLarty reviews the handling of the operation.

White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos, announcing the move after nearly a week of controversy over the firings, also conceded he had made "an inadvertent mistake" in releasing an FBI statement Friday that "additional criminal investigation" was warranted.

President Clinton told reporters he "had nothing to do with any decision except to save the taxpayers and the press money." Clinton later said "there's nothing funny going on here. We really were just trying to save money for everybody."

When the firing of career workers in the travel office was announced last week, White House officials said evidence of abuse and mismanagement in the office was so great that it was essential the entire staff be dismissed immediately.

Tuesday, Stephanopoulos said all but the two top office officials, who had access to cash, would simply remain on paid administrative leave while McLarty conducts his review. Stephanopoulos repeated White House assertions that the office was badly run but called the decision to reinstate the workers for the time being "the most appropriate thing to do at this time."

Asked if the White House was conceding it had jumped the gun in firing the workers before completing the review or hearing their accounts, Stephanopoulos said, "Well, we want to avoid any questions about that."

He argued that the workers had really been on administrative leave all along. Two sources present in the meeting with the workers, however, said they were told they would get two weeks pay and another two weeks of benefits. "It was as explicit as anything could have been," said one, "On June 6 there would be no more pay."

McLarty, who approved the initial firing of the workers, will be joined in the review by Office of Management and Budget Director Leon Panetta. Stephanopoulos said their purpose was "to see what went wrong and what went right and what we can do better."

by CNB