Activists Rate Bush Choice for Civil Rights Chief Low

President Bush plans to announce his choice for the top civil rights job in the Justice Department is a former New York state legislator, John R. Dunne, White House sources said today.

Dunne would fill a post left vacant since December, 1988. Bush’s first choice, William Lucas, failed to win Senate confirmation last year.

Bush has held two meetings this month with civil rights leaders alarmed at the recent wave of racial bombings and threats in the South. NAACP leaders on Monday urged the President to step up the Justice Department’s efforts to promote racial understanding through community outreach offices.

Dunne, 59, of Garden City, N.Y., has a sparse background on civil rights and consistently received low ratings from the New York Civil Liberties Union for votes cast while in the state Senate.

After some reports that Dunne was in line for the civil rights post, he resigned from the all-male Garden City Golf Club, which he had belonged to for 32 years.

During most of his 24 years in the state Legislature, a part-time post, Dunne lived in Albany at the Fort Orange Club, which until 1988 barred women as members.

Nonetheless, he has the backing of Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, an old friend and the most powerful black member of New York’s congressional delegation. Dunne is white.

“If the President has to pick a Republican, he couldn’t pick a more decent person than John Dunne,” Rangel said in a recent interview.

Dunne also has the active support of Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh.

A graduate of Georgetown University and Yale Law School, Dunne resigned his legislative seat last September after losing a contest for majority leader in the Republican-controlled state Senate. He is a partner in a Uniondale, N.Y., law firm.

During his state Senate career, Dunne was better known for his role in drafting environmental and corrections legislation, although he served on the Judiciary Committee, which handles such matters as civil rights.