Sununu Pleads for Harmony, Source Says : White House: The chief of staff is reportedly trying to put controversy over his travels behind him, but is also said to be unwilling to accept blame for his plight.

White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu tried Wednesday to put behind him the controversy over his travel aboard Air Force jets and private aircraft, pleading privately for harmony among his colleagues on the White House senior staff, one staff member said.

According to Republican political sources, Sununu addressed the President’s senior assistants, raising the controversy in a formal session for the first time and stating that he hopes he has no differences with any of them.

Sununu’s peace-making overtures came after several days of lashing out at President Bush’s political allies and long-time advisers for their criticism of his travel practices and dishing out blame for the difficult position in which he has landed.

One senior staff member said the prevailing attitude within the West Wing, where the Oval Office is situated, is a desire to get about the business of the presidency without the distractions of the past week, when Sununu’s travels grabbed headlines.

Still, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, Sununu appeared unwilling to accept any blame, either for the method of travel he chose or for the way in which he dealt with the adverse publicity.

Sununu has been stung by a series of embarrassing disclosures--first that he had used Air Force jets to travel around the country on official business and pleasure trips, then that a White House limousine and driver had taken him to New York for a rare stamp auction, and finally that he had flown aboard corporate aircraft to political fund-raising events.

“There really isn’t anyone else to blame. He needs to hitch up his pants and move on,” the staff member said.

Sununu’s attempt to douse the controversy came after disclosures that he has privately blamed several Cabinet members for the continuing controversy, among them Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady, Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher, and Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner. In addition, sources said that Sununu has faulted key White House staff members and three long-time Bush political advisers--Peter Teeley, Robert S. Teeter, and Craig Fuller--for his misfortunes.

He was reported by several participants in Wednesday morning’s session with staff members to have denied blaming the staff, or the President’s friends and advisers, in conversations he previously was reported to have had with his own political allies.

White House officials generally tried to keep their distance from the issue. Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater repeatedly ducked questions about Sununu’s attitude about the controversy and who was to blame for it. He said he had not, and would not, raise the subject with the President.

“The President doesn’t have an opinion on this,” Fitzwater said.

On another issue, Sununu’s use of transportation and guard services from the General Services Administration during his travels, Fitzwater said: “These are routine, warranted and authorized services.”

Sununu issued a statement Wednesday night saying only that “the support of the General Services Administration is a valuable asset for many senior officials in this Administration.”

Meanwhile, representatives of 65 conservative groups--many of which have viewed Sununu as their most sympathetic supporter in the White House--signed a statement of support for Sununu.

“We have been able to count on him as the only consistently conservative voice who has the President’s attention, and as such we will not abandon him when something like this happens,” said Paul M. Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation.

A participant in the White House senior staff meeting said Sununu told the President’s top assistants “he hoped there were no differences with the staff, that we’re all doing a good job, and that he hoped we could work harmoniously and smoothly.”

Sununu was said to have made the comments at the end of the staff meeting.