Longtime Key Aide to Wilson Is Resigning

Bob White, the jolly adjutant, confidant and alter ego behind most of Gov. Pete Wilson’s 30-year career in public office, announced his resignation as chief of staff Tuesday in a surprise move that leaves a void at the center of the governor’s inner circle.

White, 54, said his immediate plan is to be a Sacramento-based consultant and to continue as an advisor to the governor. Beyond that, he was vague.

“I believe this is the right time for me to pursue some other personal dreams and priorities I have harbored for some time,” White wrote in a letter to the governor’s staff. “While my specific plans are not set . . . I will continue to devote part of my time as a private citizen to Pete Wilson.”

The loss means that for the first time since he started in the Assembly in 1966, Wilson will be surrounded by a staff of advisors who have known him for only a few years. At the same time, he will pursue an ambitious agenda as a lame duck.

White’s mysterious and sudden departure left the Capitol a bit stunned Tuesday. Most figured he and the governor have been so close for so long that they would naturally ride off together into the sunset when Wilson’s political career ends--perhaps when the governor’s current term ends in January 1999.

Privately, insiders and associates said that White’s departure--which he has threatened so many times over the years that it’s an inside joke--was finally taken as an opportunity to make more than his $106,000 annual state salary.

Whatever the reason, however, the move is not good news for Wilson. White is the fourth member of the governor’s tight inner circle to leave the office since January. And, more important, he is the last of the personal confidants who have surrounded Wilson nearly his entire career.

“He served this administration with great loyalty and devotion and it will be difficult for them to fill his shoes,” said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward).

Wilson’s office said that it will announce a replacement in the next few days and that White will remain for a transition period until late April. Few names were in the rumor mill other than George Dunn, currently a deputy chief of staff.

Wilson said he does not expect the change will be a major problem.

“It would leave an enormous void were it not for the fact that he is not really going to be very far away,” Wilson said. “He is not going to be gone. He will be both physically nearby and available for consultation and counsel, which I fully expect he will give.”

Associates suggested that White, who has close connections in California and Washington, would work as a consultant or an executive for government affairs at one or several corporations. Meanwhile, they hinted that he would continue to seek a role in public policy and perhaps a future for Wilson after the governor’s office.

Some close to White said he may even seek to clear the way for Wilson to make a transition into a think tank or other public policy arena, or possibly into the 2000 presidential campaign that the governor has already indicated an interest in.

“I think Bob White will be thinking about what Pete Wilson needs 34 1/2 years from now when Pete Wilson is ready to retire from life and Bob is there making the plan,” said George Gorton, Wilson’s longtime campaign manager who was hired out of the Army by White to help with Wilson’s mayoral campaign in 1971. “I don’t think either one knows exactly what either one is going to do, but I think they are Lewis and Clark; they are just always going to be together.”

In many ways, White is seen as the human side of Wilson the policy machine.

White remembers the wedding anniversaries and children’s birthdays of people important to the governor inside and outside of his office. He gets much of the credit for a devoted Wilson staff, and he stays in close touch with many alumni who have taken political jobs at all levels throughout the country.

“He has probably been best man in 25 or 30 weddings and he is probably the godfather for even more children,” said Larry Thomas, Wilson’s former communications director and now a vice president at the Irvine Co. “Bob is a very compassionate, warm, loyal, sensitive, in-touch friend and he has lifelong friendships that are very, very strong and dear.”

In interviews, Wilson and White both said they expect to work together again.

“I can’t say exactly what; it’s a little premature,” Wilson said. “As he knows, I am in good health and brimming with ideas and interest in public policy.”

This year, Wilson faces a major battle in the Legislature over welfare reform and his plans for spending a budget surplus on education. Also, he is continuing to press his plans for tax cuts, tort reform and a cutback in environmental regulations.

Wilson officials said they have not decided details of the arrangement White will make with the governor’s office to provide advice and whether it will be paid by a state contract.

Wilson said he told his staff at a morning meeting, “This is not an occasion for celebration or for tears.”

White first met Wilson in 1968 when, shortly after college, he signed on to help Wilson with his first reelection campaign in San Diego for the state Assembly.

White said he planned to go to law school after the campaign but he was hired by Wilson that December to be chief of staff in a three-person office.

“I remember this so well,” White said at a luncheon interview Tuesday. “He said, ‘This is only a two-year job.’ ”

As he and the governor both remember it, White was the first to suggest that Wilson run for mayor of San Diego in 1970.

“He was really more interested in my running for mayor than I was,” Wilson recalled Tuesday. “I warmed to the idea and eventually thought it was a good thing for me and for the city.”

Since then, their relationship has become one of the nation’s most enduring in the political arena, where administrative turnover is almost a seasonal event.

“They are closer than most husbands and wives,” Gorton said. “They know what each other is thinking. . . . They have terribly strong disagreements, sometimes. And Bob wins some of them. But, they are very fond of each other.”

White said he has also worked well with the governor because he has interpreted his job as chief to be two things: “You do everything they don’t want to do and everything they don’t have time to do.”

Profile: Bob White

Pete Wilson’s closest aide and advisor for three decades.

* Age: 54

* Residence: Sacramento

* Education: Degrees in journalism and political science from San Diego State, 1965

* Career highlights: Helped run Wilson’s reelection campaign for the state Assembly in 1968. Became Wilson’s chief of staff in December 1968 and has remained in that position ever since, through Wilson’s career as mayor of San Diego, U.S. senator and governor.

* Family: Single

* Quote: Wilson “never wanted a yes man, even though there may have been times he wished he had one.”