A Long, Bumpy Flight for Sununu? : Politics: Even before the flying flap, Washington loved to hate the White House chief of staff. Now, one ally says, ‘the sharks are smelling blood.’

On the leftover campaign button, the image is unmistakable: The round face--topped by a mop of curly brown hair--of John H. Sununu.

The legend on the button, distributed by one of Sununu’s unsuccessful opponents in a New Hampshire Republican gubernatorial primary election: “Will Rogers never met this man.”

In the best of times, a White House chief of staff has few friends--Rogers’ old saying that he’d never met a man he didn’t like notwithstanding. For a President who likes to say “yes,” he is the President’s “no” man. But now, this White House chief of staff has become, more than ever, the man whom Washington loves to hate.

Indeed, if John Sununu followed the advice attributed to Harry S. Truman--”If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog”--he’d be spending all his free time at the pound. But Sununu is not one who seems to take kindly to unsolicited advice, especially that of a Democrat.

Now it is generally known that Sununu extensively used the flashy fleet of small jets that the Air Force keeps ready at Andrews Air Force Base as part of its presidential stable. They carried him on ski trips. Political speeches. Trips to the dentist in Boston. A football game in New Jersey.

For personal trips, the White House said Sununu provided reimbursement at the going commercial rate for the route flown. For the official travel--including the ski trips, during which he was said to also have delivered speeches--the $3,945-per-hour cost of flying his airplane was met by the government.

Now, for the first time since George Bush moved into the White House 28 months ago, Republicans and Democrats alike--official and would-be official Washington--are turning out in droves to gleefully report just where this snappish Sununu went wrong.

They’re saying it anonymously, of course. After all, this man is still extremely powerful. Even his defenders--save the President himself--are extremely reluctant to be quoted by name, fearful that he might associate other, nameless quotes with them.

Bush alone has stood solidly by the former New Hampshire governor, whose crucial advice and involvement during the rough 1988 primary campaign succeeded in turning around a Bush campaign that seemed headed for defeat.

“He has my full support,” says the President, at whose pleasure Sununu serves.

Yes, but Bush is also not very pleased these days with Sununu’s behavior, says a senior White House official.

For his part, Sununu is refusing reporters’ interview requests.

He showed up, as scheduled, at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Assn. Saturday night, chatting, smiling--and pointing proudly to a lapel pin that decorated his tuxedo: It was a replica of a private jet.

Although Sununu’s jet-setting was a frequent topic of quiet conversation among the 2,000-plus guests, not a word on the matter was uttered from the podium--neither by the comedian Sinbad, who was the headliner, nor by the President, who generally feels free to tease his staff members in public in a good-natured way.

One Administration official remarked that the President’s own silence on the matter Saturday said more about the question’s unsettled nature--and just how uneasy it has made the White House--than would any barb from Bush.

Ironically, Ed Rogers, a senior Sununu aide, generally carries a portably secure telephone for use in cars and hotel rooms. At the heart of the dispute is a White House policy--dating from 1987 and now under review--that requires the chief of staff and the President’s national security adviser to travel aboard the Air Force jets, rather than on regularly scheduled airliners, so that they have access at all times to secure communications.

In the end, say White House officials and others who have watched such Washington dust blow through before, Sununu will hold onto his job, barring new disclosures.

But, says one senior White House aide, the incident “really has underscored” Sununu’s “bad judgment” and “how few friends he has around town.”

Does the White House chief of staff have any friends?

The official pauses. He hums. He whistles quietly. He hums some more. He whistles again. He’s thinking. For 12 seconds, he goes through this routine.

Finally, he replies.

“Except Ed Rogers? I don’t know. He’s a tough guy to work with.”

Edward Bennett Williams, the late criminal lawyer, was fond of saying that in Washington “they burn a witch every three months. The goal is to make sure that you’re not the witch.”

These days, John Sununu has the black hat and broomstick.

The fires lapping at him are shedding an unwavering light on two basic facts of life in Washington:

* If you’re going to play the tough guy, stay out of trouble. You’ll find defenders few and far between when you need them.

* If you are a tough guy--and powerful too--few will be willing to deliver the first blow. But once you’re down, everyone will be happy to deliver the second kick.

And so, the town has been noticeably quiet when it comes to mounting a defense of Sununu’s flair for frequent flying via Air Force jet. But it has been quick to join the attack.

In the words of one longtime associate, “Sununu has built up so little political goodwill in this town that his detractors, Democrat and Republican, are looking for him to stub his toe.”

“With a style like his, you have to make sure you don’t do anything indiscreet, because everyone is going to be looking to get you,” he says.

According to one White House official, had members of Congress--with whom Sununu has tangled throughout his tenure--not been among the Air Force fleet’s most frequent fliers on trips of their own, “he would have been ridden out by now.”

There are few in town who don’t have a complaint about Sununu: Congress. White House staff members. Out-of-office Democrats. The news media with whom he is decidedly not buddy-buddy.

“A lot of people don’t like John Sununu, especially the media,” says one Democratic lobbyist with years of experience in ethics laws in Washington. “And if you can find a way to show he’s done something stupid, why not trumpet it to the skies?”

As the presidency has developed in recent decades, the job of chief of staff has become extremely powerful. More often than not, the person in the spacious office just a few paces down a quiet corridor from the Oval Office has the final word when it comes to all matters presidential: policy, travel, politics.

The staff chief has been either well-liked in Washington or everyone’s favorite, feared goat. So, Washington veterans have been quick to point out that the same story could have swirled around the heads of some of the more popular chiefs--Ronald Reagan’s aides Howard H. Baker Jr. and Kenneth M. Duberstein are frequently mentioned--and the impact would have been considerably less.

The bottom line, White House officials and others point out, is that Sununu did nothing illegal. Indeed, he adhered to White House policy.

He just paid little attention to the perquisites of office.

“I worked for 2 1/2 years very closely with this man and I never once had occasion to doubt his integrity or the care with which he views the public trust,” says James Ciconni, a former senior White House official. “There is not a less perk-conscious person in that White House except for George Bush.”

But, said one Administration official, he also paid little heed to the appearance the use of those perks created.

Now, one Sununu ally says, “the sharks are smelling blood.”

“Unfortunately,” he laments, “that’s how this town works.”

Staff writers David Lauter and Melissa Healy contributed to this story.