Lee Atwater Taps Friend as GOP’s Chief Spokesman

Republican Party Chairman Lee Atwater today named his best friend as chief spokesman for the party, saying the GOP needs a high-profile presence that he cannot provide while he is fighting a brain tumor.

The new spokesman, Charles Black, is a partner in the political consulting firm Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly. Since the discovery of Atwater’s brain tumor in March, Black has been actively advising the Republican National Committee and President Bush.

There have been increasing grumblings within the party, however, that with the clever and tenacious Atwater on the sidelines, the GOP has lost the offensive to the Democrats on issues such as taxes, the savings and loan disaster and civil rights.

Atwater’s chief of staff, Mary Matalin, has been handling day-to-day committee operations, and most party insiders have praised her operation.

But some say that Matalin lacks the clout of Atwater and that White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu has been making too many major political decisions without enough advice from others.