Former Aide Still Receives Daily Reagan Schedule : Focus of Ethics Inquiry on Deaver Hinges on Meeting

Investigators for Congress’ General Accounting Office are focusing their investigation of possible ethics law violations by Michael K. Deaver, President Reagan’s former deputy chief of staff, on his meeting last October with special presidential envoy Drew Lewis to discuss the Canadian acid rain issue.

Deaver, who left his post as deputy White House chief of staff 11 months ago, has flatly denied speaking with any U.S. official to help Canada--a $100,000-a-year client of his--resolve pollution problems caused by American industries.

But congressional sources, who spoke on condition that they not be identified, said his Oct. 25 meeting with Lewis in a posh New York club appears to conflict with this denial and seems to violate ethics rules requiring former government officials to avoid lobbying on issues with which they were personally and substantially involved while in government.

Retained Entry Pass

Meanwhile, White House officials confirmed that Deaver is one of several Reagan friends and confidants who have left his employ but still receive detailed copies of the President’s non-public daily schedule. Deaver has also retained his White House entry pass.

Deaver, while serving under Reagan, discussed plans with Canadian officials in February, 1985, for both countries to appoint special envoys on acid rain. This was announced the next month at Reagan’s summit meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney--two months before Deaver resigned his White House post.

Last July, Deaver was retained as a consultant by the Canadian government. He also represents corporations, as well as the governments of Mexico, South Korea, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

Deaver, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, previously has minimized his involvement in the acid rain issue while at the White House, saying it was only in connection with his general duties for Reagan. He has denied wrongdoing.

‘Absolute Integrity’

A spokesman for his Georgetown-based public relations firm, Michael K. Deaver & Associates, reiterated in a statement Thursday that Deaver’s “absolute integrity while in public service and private business” will be shown in any investigation.

Sources said that the congressional inquiry, being conducted by the General Accounting Office at the direction of Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), is focusing on whether Deaver’s meeting last fall with Lewis and Canadian special envoy William G. Davis reflected any lobbying on his part or whether he sought only to learn the timing of their final report. Canadian Ambassador Alan Gotlieb also attended the session at New York’s River Club.

Last month, Lewis and Davis recommended a more aggressive acid rain policy, which included a multimillion-dollar cleanup. Reagan, reversing his previous position, agreed to the proposal.

One official, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified, said there is “nothing insidious” about Deaver’s receipt of the daily schedule and that it was primarily First Lady Nancy Reagan’s idea that he be kept abreast of the President’s activities.

Still Consults Deaver

The First Lady always has taken a keen interest in her husband’s schedule and still consults Deaver on occasion about the handling of various events and the pacing of trips.

“He may not know anything about throw weight or the effects of SO2 loading on a specific biosphere,” said an Administration official who requested anonymity, “but he understands the political guts of every issue and how to play it, and he’s very good at it.”

President Reagan said at his April 9 news conference that Deaver had “never put the arm on me for anything.”

White House officials denied that Deaver’s access to Reagan’s schedule was a breach of security. They said that the same schedule is distributed to about 40 people in the White House and discloses little more than is released to the news media.

Although one official said that the schedule shows sessions with congressmen and policy meetings that frequently are not announced to the press, another official said: “If I left it in some hotel room, I wouldn’t worry,” adding that the schedule lists Reagan’s “private time” and such minutiae as haircuts and dental appointments.

Obtained by Phone Call

The White House provides a similar version of Reagan’s schedule--without certain items it chooses to keep private--on the evening before the events are to take place. This can be obtained by anyone who telephones the White House and listens to a recording.

Although White House officials defended the practice of providing Deaver with a schedule as an innocent courtesy designed to keep him in touch, they conceded that it presents a public-relations problem in the context of the present controversy about Deaver.

“If we were on the ball, we would have stopped it,” an official lamented.

One key official said that Deaver’s situation “looks pretty messy” and that “people are out to get him” inside and outside the White House.

“He broke the biggest law of all,” this official said. “He made too much money too fast, and he raised the envy of an awful lot of people.”