Bush Health Post Choice Under Fire : Anti-Abortionists Angry; Selection May Come Today

In the first major test of his leadership since his election six weeks ago, President-elect George Bush and his top aides scrambled Tuesday to stave off attacks from anti-abortion activists against his unannounced choice for secretary of health and human services, Dr. Louis Sullivan, a prominent black educator from Atlanta.

By day’s end, Sullivan had reassured critics that he shared Bush’s view on abortion--that he personally opposed it except in cases of rape or incest or when necessary to protect a mother’s life--and that he would “enforce Administration policy.”

With that, senior officials said the choice was still on--and might be announced as early as today. But right-to-life officials vowed to press their fight.

Announcement Canceled

When Bush arrived at the White House in the morning, he told reporters that he planned to announce Cabinet appointments--Sullivan’s among others, sources said--in the afternoon. But after furious calls from right-to-life leaders and a meeting with senior aides, Bush abruptly canceled the announcement.

Officially, Bush aides insisted that the hasty cancellation had nothing to do with the controversy over Sullivan, the 55-year-old dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine. “I was told there was no connection between the cancellation and Sullivan,” spokesman David Prosperi said.

Privately, however, aides conceded that Bush did not want to subject himself to repeated questions about Sullivan if he appeared in a public forum to announce any other choices.

Sullivan spent the day holed up in the Bush transition offices, where he was grilled about his abortion views by top Bush advisers and two conservative Republicans from Congress, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota.

Weber said he came away largely satisfied. Hatch declined to talk with reporters, but Bush aides said they expected his support for Sullivan.

Bush and his aides “want this guy desperately,” said a highly placed official who was involved in the day’s events. “They want a black at HHS. They want this guy. Barbara Bush likes him. The President-elect likes him.”

The rapidly developing controversy has placed Bush in a politically dangerous position, caught between his wish not to appear beholden to special interests and his desire not to offend right-to-life leaders who supported him heavily in the presidential campaign.

During the campaign, Bush decried the use of abortion as a “litmus test” for political appointees and promised specifically that he would not use the issue as a test for deciding on judicial nominees.

But senior right-to-life leaders have told their associates that top Bush aides, including his son, George Bush Jr., had personally pledged to them that the HHS secretary would be someone who shared their position.

Further adding to Bush’s troubles is his pledge to seek black Cabinet secretaries. Tuesday’s delay immediately upset black leaders.

“If he can take Quayle with the total negative impact he had, then he can take Sullivan 10 times,” said Dr. William Holmes Borders, a prominent Atlanta black physician, referring to Bush’s controversial vice presidential running mate, Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana.

The controversy over Sullivan developed into a firestorm after Sullivan was quoted in Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution as saying he supported abortion rights and favored research on tissues from aborted fetuses.

Sullivan reportedly told Hatch and Weber that he stood by his quoted remark on fetal research--”We have a number of medical advances that have occurred as a result of research with fetal tissue that have benefited the lives of many people.” But he reportedly said his quoted position on abortion rights did not accurately reflect his views.

Weber said he was impressed by Sullivan’s suggestion that he would appoint some key aides who espoused right-to-life views. “It’s more important that we get the right policy than that the new secretary say precisely the right words at precisely the right time,” Weber said.

Bush aides were dismayed not only by Sullivan’s positions but also by his willingness to discuss a controversial issue publicly while his nomination was still under consideration.

The episode displayed a potentially serious lack of political savvy, one aide suggested. “We don’t need ideologues,” he said, “and we don’t need naifs.”

Bush, who has named eight Cabinet officials and is trying to name the remaining six by Christmas, is strongly considering one other black official. Retired Gen. Julius W. Becton Jr., who currently heads the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is regarded as a front-runner to head the new Department of Veterans Affairs.

For energy secretary, John Deutch, an official at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was the department’s No. 2 official in the Carter Administration, has emerged as a potential candidate. Deutch would fit the profile Bush said Monday he was looking for--someone with extensive experience in the nuclear field and a background in scientific research.

For labor secretary, National Labor Relations Board member Patricia Diaz Dennis continues to be a leading candidate, although some aides object that she is too liberal and a registered Democrat and are pressing for other candidates.

Meanwhile, Quayle announced that his top aide would be Robert M. Guttman, a little-known member of Quayle’s Senate staff who has spent all of his professional life in government service.

The naming of Guttman appeared further to ensure that Quayle would maintain a low profile as vice president. Those who had wanted Quayle to seek a more active role had encouraged him to select as his top deputy someone with close ties to the Bush team.

Quayle had hoped to announce his entire senior staff by Tuesday. “We had this grandiose plan,” said Quayle spokesman David Beckwith. “Unfortunately, reality overtook our dreams.”

Some departments have already begun staffing their second ranks.

At the Treasury Department, transition sources said David Mulford, who has been an assistant secretary, will be promoted to a new post of undersecretary for monetary and international affairs. Mulford, who managed the Saudi Arabian central bank’s $116-billion investment portfolio during the late 1970s and early 1980s before joining the Treasury, has been a key player in the department’s efforts to bring down the value of the dollar and to ease the global debt problem.

Another senior Treasury official, Charles Dallara, is also expected to stay on, but his exact duties remained undecided.

Staff writers Douglas Jehl and Art Pine contributed to this story.