Voter Issues Key to Future, GOP Chief Warns Leaders

Republican National Chairman Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. on Friday warned party leaders facing the end of the Reagan era that they must shy away from “inflexible ideology” and “hard-nosed approaches” and concentrate on solving problems that matter to voters.

“Concern over budget deficits will not override the concern of even the most conservative voter worried about losing the family farm, sending a child to college or the need to clean up a toxic waste site,” Fahrenkopf told the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee after its members had unanimously reelected him to his third two-year term as chairman.

Blueprint for Future

The chairman’s address seemed intended both to lay down a blueprint for the future and to boost the spirits of party members troubled by the loss of the Senate in last November’s elections and the Iran- contra scandal, as well as the anticipation of President Reagan’s departure from the Oval Office.

Fahrenkopf conceded that the idea of a future without Reagan is no small matter for Republicans. “In some ways, we have become a little like Linus in ‘Peanuts,’ clutching the mantle of Reagan’s leadership like a security blanket,” he said. “What kind of future, we ask, can Republicans have without Ronald Reagan as our standard-bearer.”

Part of the answer, Fahrenkopf said, lies in finding a way to combat the Democratic tactic “of claiming as their own all issues that deal with compassion, with concern for our fellow man.”

To meet this Democratic challenge, Fahrenkopf said, Republicans must end what he called their “estrangement” from black Americans. “We must not only condemn racism . . . but we, as a party, must intensify our efforts to attract blacks and other minorities.”

Calls for Alternatives

More broadly, the chairman said, the Republicans must find a way to be “both the party of responsibility and compassion. . . . We cannot just say: ‘No, it’s too expensive.’ Our challenge and our duty is to offer meaningful, constructive alternatives.”

Much the same point was made by Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), the Senate minority leader, in the keynote address to the national committee’s winter meeting. “I want to reassert that we are a sensitive, compassionate party, and we care about people in all of our states,” said Dole, a leading 1988 presidential prospect.

“We also believe,” he added, “that we can address these concerns in other ways than just having a contest with Democrats on how much money can we spend and how much more federal regulations can we frame.”

In addition to their other problems, committee members were troubled by recent disclosures of substantial bonuses paid to staff members on some 1986 party campaign organizations. Probably most controversial of all was the total of more than $250,000 in bonuses, ranging from $250 to $90,000, paid to staff members on the National Republican Senatorial Committee that was unable to prevent the Democrats from seizing control of the Senate and ended the campaign nearly $3 million in debt.

Would Have Rejected Bonuses

At a reception this week for national committee members, the new chairman of the Senate campaign committee, Minnesota Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, said that, in view of the loss of the Senate and the group’s sizable debt, he would not have approved the bonuses.

In other action Friday, the national committee unanimously elected Maureen Reagan, the President’s daughter, as its new chairwoman and approved the recommendation of its site selection committee for New Orleans as the location of its 1988 convention.