Sununu Defends Ski Trips as Official, Citing Speeches

White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu reported Tuesday that all four of his ski vacations over the last two years qualified as official trips, requiring taxpayers to pay for his use of a military jet, because he gave speeches while visiting the slopes.

The disclosure came in White House documents designed to show that Sununu reimbursed the government for all personal and political travel on military airplanes. But the sketchy documentation left a number of questions unanswered and the claim of official purpose for Sununu’s ski trips--two to New Hampshire and two to Colorado--is likely to continue the controversy surrounding his use of government jets.

In all four instances, Sununu gave speeches but he spent much of his time skiing. Nonetheless, “anytime he gives a speech as chief of staff, that’s official business,” justifying the cost of the travel, a Sununu aide said.

The Air Force estimates that operating Sununu’s executive-style military jet costs $3,945 per hour. Sununu is required to reimburse the government for trips that are personal or political in nature but only at a rate equivalent to a standard commercial coach ticket. For example, Sununu paid $420 for a round trip to Boston for a dental appointment in December, a trip that cost the government about $7,000, using the Air Force estimate of operating costs.

The two-page list of Sununu trips indicates that the chief of staff paid a total of $1,267 to cover the cost of four personal trips--two to see the dentist, one to visit his parents in Florida and the fourth to attend a football game in New Jersey.

Another 24 trips were deemed political, with the cost reimbursed by various Republican campaign funds, again at the standard commercial rate. But the White House refused to say which campaign funds paid for which trips.

White House officials insisted that, except for three recent trips, all of the political and personal reimbursements were paid before Sununu’s use of military planes became a public issue. But the documentation released provided no verification of that assertion.

Although questions continued about the propriety of his actions, a longtime Sununu associate predicted that the chief of staff will now “dig in” and refuse to answer further questions. “He doesn’t give an inch on things like this,” the associate said.

Indeed, Sununu’s aides refused to release additional information. “We’ve done what’s necessary,” one said.

Meanwhile, congressional Democrats continued to attack the controversial staff chief, and Republicans maintained a thundering silence. Around Washington, “there’s a lot of glee that he’s in trouble,” one Republican political consultant said.

“There’s public silence, but in private a lot of them are pleased because of the abuse” Sununu has given to members of Congress, the consultant said. “He’s been a bipartisan abuser.”

Most of Sununu’s 77 trips since becoming chief of staff were deemed official by the chief of staff, who judges the propriety of his own travel, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said.

Several of the trips, however, appeared to have more connection with New Hampshire politics than with Washington duties, such as attendance at a testimonial for the Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1989 and at a New Hampshire Senate dinner in 1990.

The most controversial of the “official” trips, however, are the four ski excursions. In December, 1989, and again in December, 1990, the chief of staff flew to Colorado to ski. On both occasions he spoke to a skiing industry conference sponsored by Ski Magazine. Ski is owned by Times Mirror Co., the corporate parent of the Los Angeles Times.

In the case of the four-day 1989 trip, Sununu spoke to a Council of State Governments meeting in Salt Lake City before flying on to Vail. In 1990, Sununu made a three-day trip whose only official purpose was the speech to the skiing conference. That trip, taken during the Persian Gulf crisis, cost the government more than $30,000 in flight costs.

A Sununu aide said that on one of the two Colorado trips, Sununu stayed at the home of a friend. But on the other trip he stayed in a hotel, and because it was an official trip, the government “presumably” paid the hotel bill. However, the aide said he could not definitively answer that question without reviewing further records.

The two other ski trips were to the Christa McAuliffe Ski Invitational, a tournament that raises money for a scholarship fund in memory of Sharon Christa McAuliffe, the New Hampshire teacher killed in the Challenger space shuttle explosion in January, 1986. In both cases, Sununu made a four-day trip with family members and delivered a speech.

The White House also released a list of trips taken by Bush’s national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, who, like Sununu, is authorized to fly on a military airplane whenever he deems it appropriate.

Scowcroft’s list shows only one personal trip over the last two years--a ski vacation to Utah with his daughter, for which the national security adviser reimbursed the government $1,052.

The list shows 22 official trips for Scowcroft but notes that it does not include “classified travel at direction of President.” For example, the White House report lists no travel by Scowcroft since October, although he is known to have traveled to the Middle East earlier this spring on a mission that was kept secret at the time.

Of Sununu’s 77 reported trips, the chief of staff listed 24 as “political,” and the White House list shows that the government received $32,580 in reimbursement for those trips. The government received another $13,197 for carrying Sununu’s wife, Nancy, and their children on trips with the chief of staff.

Sununu’s own private political committee paid at least one of those family bills. His New Hampshire gubernatorial campaign committee still exists, although he maintains that he has no future political ambitions. The Sununu aide said the campaign fund paid $4,430 to bring Sununu’s family with him on last February’s New Hampshire ski trip.

TRAVELS WITH SUNUNU

The White House tabulation of trips by Chief of Staff John H. Sununu: Total trips on military jets: 77 Official trips: 49 Political trips: 24 Personal trips: 4 eimbursements paid: $47,044

Official trips listed included a December, 1989, trip to Vail, Colo., and trips to New Hampshire.

Personal trips were January, 1990, to Newark for a football game ($200 reimbursement); April, 1990, to Boston to the dentist ($480); April, 1990, to West Palm Beach, Fla., from Key Largo, to see parents ($167); and December, 1990, to Boston for another visit to the dentist ($420).