Bush Staff Says Jeffords at Fault

When a group of mid-level White House staffers convened one spring morning to choreograph President Bush’s first day back after a hemispheric summit in Quebec, they had little reason to think that their guest list might lead to a profound power shift in Washington.

But the exclusion of Sen. James M. Jeffords (R-Vt.) from that April 23 Rose Garden ceremony--in which a Vermont teacher was honored as the national teacher of the year--may well have contributed to Jeffords’ expected decision to leave the Republican Party, thus giving Democrats control of the Senate.

The maverick, third-term senator--a strong advocate for education and the environment--made his decision despite a personal plea and an unusual query from President Bush as to whether he or any of his White House staffers had done something to offend Jeffords.

The senator said no, according to one top Bush advisor with whom the president spoke after that 30-minute tete-a-tete in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon.

Still, the White House faced a barrage of questions Wednesday about its treatment of Jeffords, who has voted against Bush on some key issues, most notably against the size of the president’s tax cut plan.

“Frankly I think it’s a little bit of an absurd story line,” insisted one senior presidential confidant, who asked to remain anonymous.

In any case, one Washington Republican operative, who is in frequent contact with senior White House officials, said that top Bush aides initially were stunned by Jeffords’ intention to bolt.

But by Wednesday, the GOP source added, they had turned defiant, blaming Jeffords for the soured relationship rather than questioning their own conduct or that of some Senate Republicans who were severely aggrieved by Jeffords’ independence and who exerted enormous pressure on him to toe the party line.

While the Vermont senator and the White House have been allies on an array of issues, including a patients’ bill of rights, that relationship became strained after Jeffords became one of three Republican senators to vote to scale back Bush’s proposed tax cut of $1.6 trillion.

The White House did not help matters when Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. telephoned the news media in Vermont to put pressure on the senator to back the president on his tax cut proposal.

Not long thereafter, Jeffords expressed concern that the White House might attempt to punish him by derailing legislation to continue price supports for dairy farmers in New England--a fear that White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said was unfounded.

Then there was that April 23 Rose Garden ceremony in which Bush presented the National Teacher of the Year award, the third and final public event on the president’s schedule on that balmy Monday.

The recipient was Michele Forman, a social studies teacher at Middlebury Union High School--and one of Jeffords’ constituents.

No Snub Intended, Bush Aides Insist

White House aides vehemently denied at the time--and again Wednesday--that any deliberate snub had been intended.

“Nobody played hardball,” Fleischer told reporters, adding that Jeffords never complained to the White House.

Fleischer enumerated several other White House ceremonial events, also this spring, to which no members of Congress had been invited--”because if you were to invite one, you’d have to invite literally hundreds.”

He continued: “It’s not always practical, possible or desirable to invite members of Congress. They don’t always want to be able to leave the Hill to come down to the myriad of events at the White House where citizens are honored.”

One top Bush advisor further downplayed the event, saying in an interview that it was so “routine” that “I didn’t even go.”

Fleischer blamed an unnamed Senate Democrat for trying to “create an issue” over the Rose Garden event.

In their Tuesday meeting, Bush made a direct plea to Jeffords, telling him: “I hope very much that you will remain in the Republican party,” according to Karen Hughes, counselor to the president.

Bush argued that the best way for Jeffords to accomplish his goals on issues like funding for special education and Social Security reform was to remain in the GOP, Fleischer said.

“The president’s focus is on merits, is on policy,” Fleischer added. “It’s on the power of ideas.”

Still other perceived slights contributed to Jeffords’ disenchantment with the White House, according to Jeffords aides.

One such instance arose when the White House tapped Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) as its primary contact on education issues rather than Jeffords, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, according to one well-connected GOP source with frequent contact with West Wing staffers.

“A lot of the responsibility goes to Nick, Karl and Andy,” he said, referring to Nicholas E. Calio, the White House congressional liaison; Karl Rove, a senior Bush advisor; and Card, the chief of staff.

“It shows the lack of governing sophistication at the senior level of the White House,” the Republican source said.

‘It’s Not Over Until It’s Over’

At the White House, a senior Bush advisor late Wednesday characterized the mood in the West Wing as that of “wait and see” but added: “It’s not over until it’s over.” Aides say they are “not aware” of any additional efforts by the president to persuade Jeffords to change his mind.

Fleischer added: “The president is going to continue, no matter what Senator Jeffords decides, to treat him well, to respect him and to work with him.”

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Times staff writers James Gerstenzang and Nick Anderson contributed to this story.