PERSONALITY IN THE NEWS : Bond Leads Verbal Assault on Democrats

WASHINGTON — A Republican operative who has clashed with GOP National Chairman Richard N. Bond over his tough campaign style had to chuckle at some of the hatchets hurled by Bond at the Democratic presidential ticket Wednesday.

“He’s blunt,” said Carol Whitney of Bond’s imaginary Democratic Cabinet and White House guest list, both chock-full of liberals from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) to actress Jane Fonda. “But he only did with a little humor what the Democrats do about us, screeching in horror at right-wing nuts in the Republican Party.”

Noting that Bond designated former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. as secretary of the Interior in a Bill Clinton Administration, she added: “I mean, (Brown) does do weird things. So, Rich’s list has just enough truth in it to make everybody laugh.”

Most Americans probably never heard of Bond until he made a surprise call to the “Larry King Live” show on CNN last June and ambushed the guest, Ross Perot, with a series of pointed questions designed to thwart the Texan’s then-budding presidential candidacy.

Indeed, Bond’s appointment last February as GOP chairman to succeed the late Lee Atwater was opposed by some, including then-White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, who saw him as too low-profile--more of a smart technician than a forceful spokesman.

Although the Long Island, N.Y., native has been changing that image with biting, colorful sarcasm at pre-convention activities in Houston this week, some Republicans still think Bond’s talents are being wasted as party chairman.

“He’s one of the best campaign strategists we have left, but the chairman of the national committee doesn’t run the campaign,” a GOP consultant said.

Bond is considered an expert at the detail work of politics, from building organizations to getting out the vote to fund raising. But his hard-nosed tactics--which include negative advertising but not “dirty politics,” he once averred--have stirred controversy in party ranks.

“Rich is tough. He’s gutsy,” Whitney said. “In the past, I have had trouble working with his style, but I think he has grown up since then. I told him when he was chosen chairman that I thought it was great to have somebody who was willing to speak up.”

Bond, 41, has been a key political player for George Bush ever since he ran successful presidential primary campaigns for him in Iowa and Connecticut in 1980. In 1982, he was elected deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee after serving as deputy chief of staff to then-Vice President Bush. In 1988, he was deputy campaign manager and national political director for Bush’s presidential campaign.

Bond also has worked closely with former Sen. Charles McC. Mathias (R-Md.) and with Rep. Bill Green (R-N.Y.), whose liberalism raised conservatives’ suspicions about Bond’s philosophical leanings.

A product of hectic Republican politics on Long Island, Bond recently told Newsday that “local politics is the most real side of politics to me. . . . Local politics makes national politics.”

Bond maintains ties to a Washington lobbying firm that has such clients as the American Petroleum Institute, Grumman Corp., Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and the National Basketball Assn.

He suspended active work for the firm when he became the GOP chairman at a salary of $138,900.