Sununu Named by Bush to Head Staff : Atwater Is Picked as GOP Chairman; Choice for Budget Chief Expected Next

President-elect George Bush on Thursday made the first crucial decision in shaping his White House team, naming New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu--the strong-willed architect of one of Bush’s key primary election victories--to the post of chief of staff.

Bush also chose another leading campaign figure, campaign manager Lee Atwater, to be chairman of the Republican National Committee, a move that could be controversial because of Atwater’s reputation as a master of negative campaign tactics.

At the press conference in which he announced the latest personnel moves, Bush indicated that his choice for director of the Office of Management and Budget can be expected next. Sources close to Bush say that the nod almost certainly will go to Richard G. Darman, until recently deputy secretary of the Treasury, and a protege of Secretary of State-designate James A. Baker III.

Meets With Tower

Bush aides said that he would like to finish filling his Administration’s top economic posts before moving on to the next major priority, national security officials and the choice of a secretary of defense. Bush met Thursday for 20 minutes with one leading candidate for that job, former GOP Sen. John Tower of Texas.

The choice of a chief of staff is potentially the most telling decision Bush has had to make since his election. The other two major announcements of the last 10 days, the selection of Baker and of another longtime friend, Nicholas F. Brady, as secretary of the Treasury, were both widely anticipated and revealed little new about Bush’s plans for his Administration. But for chief of staff, Bush had alternatives.

Many handicappers had predicted that Bush would promote his current vice presidential chief of staff, Craig Fuller, to the top White House staff job, particularly after the 37-year-old Fuller was named to head Bush’s transition team.

But, according to a source close to Bush, Fuller had told the vice president on Oct. 25 that he wanted to find a job outside of government, although he would remain as chief of staff if Bush wanted him to do so.

The choice of Sununu appeared to have been virtually set about the time that Sununu traveled to Florida on Monday to have dinner with Bush, who was enjoying a post-campaign respite on the beach.

While Fuller, who said Thursday that he would return to private life after the inauguration, is a consummate Washington “inside man,” Sununu is a brash leader and a successful politician. Elected three times as his state’s governor, he is accustomed to commanding both authority and attention.

Neither Bush nor Sununu provided many details of how they envision the job of chief of staff, a post that has been handled very differently by its occupants over the years. But Sununu’s background as a “hands-on” manager and his fiery temperament indicate that Bush has opted for a strong staff chief who will be more than a behind-the-scenes facilitator and who may clash with other powerful egos within the Bush Administration and Congress.

“I’m a pussycat,” Sununu said when asked at a Thursday press conference about his temper.

‘Does Not Suffer Fools’

But those who have worked with him over the years suggest otherwise. He is “very challenging to work for,” said political consultant Jay Smith, who has worked in Sununu’s political campaigns. “He does not suffer fools nor people of lower mentality very well,” Smith said. “He is impatient with anyone around him who isn’t of the same level” intellectually.

Bush referred to Sununu as a “take-charge kind of guy” and praised him for being “very active, very energetic.”

Already Sununu has been the subject of some controversy, centering on his refusal two years ago to sign a statement that all other U.S. governors endorsed condemning a U.N. resolution that compares Zionism to racism. Both Bush and Sununu defended his position Thursday, noting that Sununu, who is partly of Lebanese descent, has supported strong pro-Israeli positions. Sununu said that he declined to sign the statement because he felt governors should not get involved in foreign policy controversies.

Asked if he expected problems with the Jewish community over the choice of Sununu, Bush said: “No, I don’t expect any at all.” However, the Anti-Defamation League and B’nai B’rith organizations Wednesday issued statements expressing “concern” about his suitability for the post.

Sununu said that he sees his role as that of an “honest broker” presenting multiple policy options to the President, but he also indicated that on domestic policy matters he will feel free to have the last word among the President’s advisers.

He also appeared to play down speculation that he would be a strong voice within the White House for the conservative wing of the Republican Party, saying: “I am considered a conservative Republican governor . . . but I recognize going into the White House my responsibility is to move policy in the direction that the President sets.”

In a move reflecting Bush’s foreign policy priorities, Bush disclosed at the press conference that he plans to meet in Houston Tuesday with Mexico’s President-elect, Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The meeting, Bush said, would symbolize “the importance of what I call our ‘front yard,’ our neighbors.” Having a meeting now would be “simpler” than waiting until both men are sworn in as presidents of their respective nations, Bush said.

Bush’s other major choice of the day, Atwater, is known as a hard-driving political technician who was controversial during the presidential race for his blunt, negative attacks on Bush’s rivals, including Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis and Republican Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas.

In naming Atwater to replace Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., Bush stressed the need for the Republican Party to stress “grass-roots” politics, which has been Atwater’s strength.

Although the GOP has been spectacularly successful at the presidential level for the last 20 years, winning five of the last six elections, the party has been far less successful everywhere else on the ballot. Democrats continue to control most of the nation’s state legislatures, the majority of governorships and both houses of Congress.

Most GOP strategists believe that the party’s last chance to break the Democratic lock on the House of Representatives depends on winning a hefty number of state legislative seats in the elections two years from now. The legislators elected that year will be in charge of redrawing congressional district boundaries after the 1990 census, and where those lines are drawn could have a powerful impact on how many congressional seats each party captures.