POLITICS 88 : CAMPAIGN ’88 : Kemp Attacks Bush Over Key Contra Votes

The increasingly combative campaign of New York Rep. Jack Kemp accused Vice President George Bush of flubbing a leadership test by failing to stop eight of his supporters in Congress from casting key votes against aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.

The $43-million Contra aid package, sought by President Reagan, was defeated by eight votes Wednesday in the House of Representatives, with 12 Republicans joining a Democratic majority in defeating the request. Eight of the 12 Republicans are Bush supporters, according to a press release issued by the Kemp campaign and read Friday in Concord, N.H., by Kemp’s leading New Hampshire backer, Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey.

“I do not question George Bush’s personal support for the Contras,” Humphrey said, “but what does it say about George Bush’s leadership for America when eight of the 12 Republicans who voted against Ronald Reagan have endorsed George Bush for President?”

Humphrey also quoted published remarks by Contra leader Adolfo Calero that “Kemp’s the only one who lifted a finger for us. I don’t know if Bush or Dole even made a phone call.”

Ron Kaufman, northeast coordinator for the Bush campaign, dismissed Humphrey’s press conference as an act of “desperation” by a “desperate campaign.”

Kaufman also said Bush had worked long and hard to get the eight members of Congress to change their minds on Contra aid. “I know for a fact the vice president has been on the phone many times with all eight of them. I can guarantee you that.”