Ad Tells Quayle to Hit the Road, Not Campaign Trail : Politics: He is urged to leave the ticket by former GOP chairman in Florida. Spokesman repeats that vice president’s status as running mate is secure.

A onetime Florida Republican Party chairman took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post on Thursday urging Vice President Dan Quayle to resign from the GOP ticket and asking the public to join his “Step Aside for America” campaign.

A Quayle spokesman brushed off the $45,000 ad, calling its sponsor “a maverick” while repeating recent statements by President Bush and Quayle that the vice president’s status is secure.

The ad, paid for by L. E. (Tommy) Thomas, appeared as the Quayle family left the nation’s capital for a five-day vacation in Montana. It renewed speculation that Bush might dump Quayle as his running mate.

“I don’t think it’s a closed issue at all,” said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), who supports the current ticket and sports a Bush-Quayle watch on his wrist. Boehlert was the first to speak up and criticize what he called the inept Bush campaign during a closedmeeting Wednesday between House Republicans and Frederic V. Malek, the President’s campaign manager.

“Please, Vice President Quayle,” the ad’s headline said in large bold letters. “Step Aside for America.”

It also contained two clip-out coupons. One is intended for readers to send to Quayle; the other seeks contributions of up to $1,000 to help finance more ads to “alert Americans to the great dangers posed to our nation if we elect the Clinton Trojan horse”--a reference to Democratic nominee Bill Clinton.

In a telephone interview from his Lakeland, Fla., office, Thomas said: “My hope is that, if Vice President Quayle can’t see the light, maybe we can make him feel the heat--for the sake of George Bush, the Republican Party and our country.”

Thomas, who owns six Chevrolet dealerships in Florida, Alabama and North Carolina, said: “Quayle is an albatross and he’s taking Bush down.”

David Beckwith, Quayle’s press secretary, called Thomas “a maverick” and “not a Republican in good standing.”

Thomas confirmed that he organized Republican support for Democrat Lawton Chiles’ successful 1990 campaign for governor, endorsed former Democratic Gov. Bob Graham in his successful bid for the U.S. Senate--and contributed several hundred dollars this spring to the insurgent campaign of Patrick J. Buchanan, who unsuccessfully challenged Bush for the GOP nomination.

“I quit voting blindly some time ago,” Thomas said.

Thomas, 67, was the Florida Republican chairman from 1971 to 1975 and chaired Ronald Reagan’s Florida campaigns from 1975 through 1984.

As one of 426 electors who voted for the Bush-Quayle ticket in the Electoral College four years ago, Thomas said: “I love George Bush and I’m very enthusiastic about that, but I’m not real happy with the selection of Quayle.”

On Thursday, Beckwith said of Thomas: “He pretends or says he’s a George Bush fan. But if he were sincere, he would have taken the money he’s spent on the ad and contributed it to Bush-Quayle ’92.”

Thomas’ ad comes a day after Bush’s campaign bought ads in five newspapers soliciting support from backers of Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire who ended his independent bid for the White House two weeks ago.

Thomas’ ad was addressed to Quayle and it said, in part: “We commend you for your years of loyalty to President Bush, the conservative cause and the Republican Party. Because of that loyalty, you--more than anyone else--know that Americans are demanding greater strength in their political leadership. And you know that you lack that strength.”

Quayle is due back in Washington early next week. He has campaign appearances set in Alabama and Ohio, followed by a three-day swing through California the week before the Republican Convention in Houston.