Meese Defender Quits Justice Dept.

Patrick Korten, who doggedly defended Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III during Meese’s final weeks in office, said Monday that he has resigned as chief Justice Department spokesman.

Korten, 40, will be replaced Monday as chief spokesman by Loye Miller, currently spokesman for outgoing Education Secretary William J. Bennett. Korten will join the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington research organization, “to work on some media-related events.” Meese joined the foundation as a distinguished fellow after leaving office on Aug. 12.

Meese appointed Korten to head the department’s office of public affairs last May after firing chief spokesman Terry Eastland. Sources said Meese believed that Eastland was failing to adequately fight off media attacks on Meese’s ethical conduct and leadership of the department.

Korten, who spent 11 years in radio and television news before joining the Reagan Administration, came to the Justice Department in July, 1985, as the deputy director of public affairs.

Korten has been under fire recently for a trip he took to Japan at public expense. He said he had told Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh in July that he intended to leave the department soon. Korten said he will remain at the Justice Department for three or four weeks to assist in the transition to a new director of public affairs.