Bush Seeks Harmony With Democrats : Pledges Cooperation in Meetings With House Speaker, Governors

“Kinder and gentler” were the operative words Friday as President-elect George Bush devoted his day to pledging cooperation with--and stroking the egos of--such powerful figures as House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) and Democratic governors, all of whose good will he may need to make his Administration work.

Bush’s first stop was Charlottesville, Va., where he met with the executive committee of the National Governors’ Assn., the majority of whose members are Democrats. He said that the meeting symbolized “support for and interest in the federalist concept.”

Then he flew back to Washington to lunch with Wright, the capital’s top-ranking Democrat, who tangled often--and often successfully--with President Reagan on issues from the federal budget to Central American policy.

Many Democrats expect Wright to lead similar assaults against Bush once he becomes President, and many Republicans spent the fall election campaign lambasting Wright over allegations of misconduct that are the subject of a House ethics investigation. On Friday, however, the meeting between the two was sweetness and light.

When asked before lunch if his trip was a peace mission, Bush smiled and responded: “Can you make peace when there’s no war?”

‘Want to Work Closely’

He added: “I’m going to tell the Speaker that I meant it when I said I want to work closely with him and with other members of the House of Representatives, no matter which side of the aisle they sit on . . . . I have great respect for the Speaker--he knows that--and I am looking forward to hear what he wants to talk about.”

Wright, for his part, said: “We are going to explore ways to establish a good, harmonious working relationship. We think the country deserves one.” Bush, he said, knows that “if he expects Congress to be with him on the landing, he needs to take us with him on the takeoff.”

Wright seemed delighted by Bush’s decision to travel to his turf for the 90-minute, one-on-one lunch. “I think it’s an intelligent approach between two friends,” he said. The meeting, he added, “shows that he’s willing to come half way and that he’s willing to work with us.”

The assembled governors gave Bush similar cheering words. On the lawn of the University of Virginia campus as the sunshine of a crisp fall morning lit up the rotunda designed by Thomas Jefferson, Democratic Gov. Gerald L. Baliles of Virginia said: “The vice president asked for the governors’ help, and he’ll get it.”

Bush replied that he “wanted to send an early signal . . . that I want to work with the governors, Democrats and Republicans.”

Bush even managed some kind words for the blue-ribbon National Economic Commission, which is expected to tell him next spring that any cure for the federal budget deficit will have to ignore his “no new taxes” pledge.

During the election campaign, Bush had attacked the commission, suggesting that the congressionally chartered panel of prominent figures was undemocratic. But he told the governors and Wright that he is “not hostile” to the panel and that, as allowed by legislation, he will appoint two members to it in January.

Wright described Bush after their lunch as “quite aware of the realities of the deficit. He has no illusions . . . . He’s prepared to do the serious things necessary to cope with them.” He did not say, however, that Bush provided any specifics.

Illinois Republican Gov. James R. Thompson, who briefed reporters on Bush’s closed meeting with the governors, said Bush did not indicate that he was inclined to back away from his no-tax pledge. Also, Thompson denied rumors that Bush or Bush aides had talked to him about becoming attorney general.

Bush’s chief aide in cutting the deficit will be his budget director, the next major appointment Bush is expected to make, probably early next week. The leading candidate is believed to be former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Richard G. Darman.

But Darman’s name has begun to encounter some resistance from outside Bush’s transition team.

“I wouldn’t predict that Darman is lost by any means, but there are some second thoughts,” a well-connected Republican source said. He added: “While most think it’s going to happen, it ain’t a done deed.”

A transition team source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had heard that resistance is mounting, “mostly from outside,” to having Darman run the budget office.

Bush is scheduled to spend much of the weekend on that and other appointments. He said Friday that he planned to “flesh out the economic side of the house” before “working on national security” as the next priority for appointments.

In addition to a budget director, Bush may name a chairman for his Council of Economic Advisers, most likely Michael J. Boskin, the Stanford University economist who was Bush’s chief economics adviser during the campaign.

Meanwhile, Bush’s newly designated choice for White House chief of staff, New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu, is naming members of his staff. Sununu announced Friday that his top deputies at the White House would be Edward Rogers and Andrew Card Jr., both of whom have credentials as political operatives, not policy formulators.

Rogers, 29, served as deputy to Bush’s campaign manager, Lee Atwater, whom the President-elect on Thursday nominated as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Card, 41, one of the two senior members of Bush’s campaign staff in New Hampshire, worked directly with Sununu in the months leading to the New Hampshire primary, which the vice president won decisively. The Massachusetts Republican was also one of the chief figures in the Bush campaign effort to seek out and exploit negative aspects of the record of the Democratic candidate, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.

Sununu, who accompanied Bush throughout the day, had his first meeting with Wright on Friday, a brief handshake before leaving Bush and Wright alone for their 90-minute tete-a-tete.

Staff writers William J. Eaton, James Gerstenzang and Cathleen Decker contributed to this story.