ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHICAGO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
NOTE: Above
The strategist who masterminded President Clinton's political comeback resigned Thursday amid reports that he let a prostitute eavesdrop on a private talk with Clinton and gave her inside White House information.
The abrupt resignation of consultant Dick Morris came only hours before Clinton's speech accepting his second nomination - a moment of triumph that Morris himself had helped to engineer.
Morris resigned early Thursday after Clinton aides learned that the New York Post was planning to publish the allegations, according to White House press secretary Mike McCurry.
The Post story was based on an upcoming edition of The Star, the same supermarket tabloid that four years ago published allegations that Clinton had a long-term affair with nightclub singer Gennifer Flowers, allegations that Clinton has denied.
Morris, 48, left town Thursday and returned to his Connecticut home with his wife, refusing to confirm or deny the allegations.
``I will not subject my wife, family or friends to the sadistic vitriol of yellow journalism,'' Morris said in a statement released by the campaign. ``I will not dignify such journalism with a reply or an answer. I never will.''
Morris said he was resigning so he ``will not become the issue.''
Nevertheless, the episode was reminiscent of Clinton's own history of battling allegations of marital infidelity. Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole has tried to make the question of character a central issue to this election. While Dole's campaign refused to comment, aides privately were gleeful.
The stunning departure of the conservative consultant - loved by Clinton but loathed by the president's liberal White House aides - disrupted Clinton's showcase day at the convention. But campaign aides and outside analysts said it would not have an immediate effect on his re-election effort.
``No staff person, no adviser, no guru, no Svengali makes up for what's in the heart and soul of the candidate running for president, because that's what the American people measure,'' McCurry said.
Morris' departure does strip Clinton of his most trusted adviser and the architect of his centrist campaign just as he heads into the fall campaign.
Moreover, it means Clinton will have to campaign with a strategy devised by Morris, but now implemented by aides who didn't like Morris or his plans. The schism could reinforce questions about whether Clinton in a second term would continue the centrist policies he has espoused in the last two years, or the more liberal philosophy he invoked in the first two years of his term.
``People don't vote for vice presidents, they don't vote for first ladies. And they certainly don't vote for political consultants,'' said Democratic consultant Mark Mellman.
``The president didn't know about this, and people know that.''
Indeed, Clinton did not refer to the scandal in a written statement Thursday, saying only that ``Dick Morris is my friend and he is a superb political strategist. I am and always will be grateful for the great contributions he has made to my campaigns and for the invaluable work he has done for me over the last two years.''
According to the Post story, The Star said it obtained diaries from Sherry Rowlands documenting her relationship with Morris as a $200-an-hour ``escort'' who met him regularly at Washington's posh Jefferson Hotel, where suites cost as much as $975 a night.
In the diaries, she recounted Morris once letting her listen in as he spoke with Clinton on the telephone. ``There was no doubt about it, it was the man,'' she was quoted as writing. ``I was finally impressed.''
The paper said Morris referred to Clinton as ``The Monster'' for his explosive temper, and to first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as ``The Twister'' for her willingness to shake things up.
The newspaper also reported that Morris gave her advance word of political and government news, letting her see copies of convention speeches by the first lady and by Vice President Al Gore days before the convention, and telling her about a NASA report about life on Mars before it was released to the public.
The Clinton campaign refused to address the allegations directly, and McCurry said decisions about whether to investigate any breach of confidence would be left, at least for now, to local law enforcement.
McCurry said he was sure the president did not discuss anything confidential with Morris because he knew the phone was not secure.
McCurry said Clinton learned of the allegations Wednesday afternoon on the last leg of his four-day train trip to the convention.
``He was surprised at the allegations but was very quick to underscore that we should be considering the source,'' McCurry said. Clinton asked an adviser to talk with Morris, McCurry said, adding ``He then went to sleep not thinking much more of it.''
In several meetings that stretched into the wee hours, Morris at first wanted to stay and fight, challenging the credibility of the tabloid, a senior Clinton aide said on condition of anonymity. But White House aides raised the possibility that the paper might come up with photographs, and Morris agreed to resign. Clinton was told after he woke up Thursday morning.
Morris is a conservative who has worked more with Republicans than Democrats, including conservative icon Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., for instance, and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss.
But his relationship with Clinton goes back to Clinton's first campaign for governor in 1978. After Clinton, running for re-election without Morris, lost in 1980, Morris came back and helped Clinton win again in 1982.
So, too, Clinton turned to Morris when Clinton seemed to have squandered his 1992 election, watching his moves to overhaul health care, open the military to gays, and raise taxes send his popularity plummeting. After angry voters threw Democrats out of Congress in 1994, Morris came in and convinced Clinton to return to centrist themes, like disavowing his own 1993 tax increase and endorsing a balanced budget.
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Dick Morris, shown here with his wife, Eileenby CNBMcGann, initially wanted to stay on and fight tabloid allegations,
White House aides say. KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENT