Bush Nominee Drops Augusta Membership

In an announcement apparently motivated by political considerations, John W. Snow, President Bush’s nominee for Treasury secretary, said Monday he was resigning his membership at Augusta National Golf Club.

During a morning news briefing before Bush officially named Snow the nominee to replace the fired Paul H. O’Neill, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer had said the Augusta National membership of Snow, a 63-year-old chairman of rail freight network giant CSX Corp., would not be a “disqualification.”

Three hours later, Fleischer announced Snow would leave the club and insisted that had not been suggested by the White House. Snow resigned one week after former CBS president Thomas H. Wyman became the first to defect because of national criticism of Augusta for not allowing female members.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who says he will organize a protest during Masters week if Augusta National does not admit a woman, said: “This draws the president into it. His non-decision is a decision, that he, in some sense, approves of Augusta’s position. Ultimately, this was going to embarrass the White House.”

Said Fleischer, “That’s an individual decision that [Snow] makes. It is not, in the president’s judgment, a disqualifying matter in appointment to Cabinet secretaries.”

Martha Burk, head of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, called Snow’s resignation “a very significant step forward.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) commented through a spokesman: “I’m glad Mr. Snow walked away from this club and I hope he’ll walk away from a failed economic policy and set us on a new course.”

Burk predicted the Augusta National resignations would continue and urged Rep. Amo Houghton (R-N.Y.) and former Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia, along with several corporate chief executives, to disassociate themselves from the club.

“I am dismayed that the [Bush] administration said this should not be a disqualifying factor,” Burk said. “This makes it clear it will be -- from now on.”

Augusta National spokesman Glenn Greenspan said the club had no comment.