Reagan Apologizes for Solicitations That Broke Oldster : Reagan Phone Call: He Offers Apology Over Fund Efforts

When President Reagan telephones most big-bucks political campaign donors, it’s usually to thank them. On Monday, Reagan telephoned one of them to apologize.

Last year, Gerald Colf, an 84-year-old pensioner whom his family characterizes as “senile,” responded patriotically to a flood of “harassing” solicitations from 27 conservative groups, gradually mailing them his entire savings--more than $4,200.

It wasn’t until last fall, when he told his granddaughter, Judy Kerrigan of Reseda, “I’m broke and going through trash cans looking for food,” that the family realized something was wrong--and set about to fix it.

This week, Reagan heard about the plight that Colf’s staunch Republicanism had gotten him into, and evidently decided to communicate his distress.

Kerrigan was vacuuming her teen-age daughter’s room Monday morning when she put her daughter’s telephone--the one she usually takes off the hook when the girl isn’t home, so the constant ringing doesn’t drive her crazy--back on the hook.

It “rang immediately” and an operator said, “ ‘Hold for the President,’ and my reaction was: ‘What President?’ ” recalled Kerrigan. Most Reagan phone calls seem to be recorded by the press, but “I’m sitting here with two St. Bernards and a vacuum cleaner.”

Then Reagan’s voice came over the phone. “He said he was very upset and sorry about what happened with my grandfather. He said that he didn’t understand computers, and didn’t understand how something like this could happen. He said he appreciated his (Colf’s) support so much, and if he got any future mail he should throw it in the trash.”

But Colf, who “thinks the world” of Reagan, wasn’t there. “I told (Reagan) that ironically, just yesterday, we moved him into a retirement home.”

Reagan “asked me to write and let him know (Colf’s) phone number. . . he gave me special code” for her letter, since Kerrigan mentioned that her Jan. 5 letter to Reagan had gone unanswered.

“He was being very gracious,” she said. “I will say he did sound very embarrassed--and I don’t think he’s that good an actor, frankly, to sound that embarrassed if he wasn’t!”

Later that day, when she saw her grandfather in the retirement home room where he has set aside his family’s pictures to put Reagan’s on the wall, he said, “President? The President called? Is he going to send my money back?” Only $1,500 of the more than $4,200 has been returned.

A lesser problem Monday was telling her 14-year-old daughter that the President had called on her very own line. Her aggrieved response? “Well, why’d he have to call on MY phone?”