Bush Promises He Would Appoint a Latino to Cabinet

DALLAS — Vice President George Bush, speaking to Latino leaders here Wednesday, pledged to appoint a Latino to his Cabinet, but said later that he would not make a similar pledge for blacks, noting “there have been blacks and there have been other minority groups” in the Cabinet in the past.

Bush said he had neither a specific Cabinet office nor any list of potential appointees in mind. But he denied that the pledge was merely symbolic. And at a press conference after the speech, he reacted sharply to the suggestion that he was engaging in tokenism by saying blacks and other minorities would not receive a similar pledge because of their past presence in high posts.

“I didn’t say we don’t need another one,” he said, indicating rather that a Latino appointment was “long overdue.”

‘Research Question’

Asked if he would pledge to appoint an Asian-American, Bush said only that he would have to “research the question” of whether an Asian had served in the Cabinet before.

Bush’s pledge comes at a time when he and his advisers have been taking steps to counter the white Anglo-Saxon country club image that has plagued both him and his party.

In his speech to the League of United Latin-American Citizens--the nation’s oldest and largest Latino organization--Bush dwelt at length on his biography, emphasizing his years of working his way up in the Texas oil fields in the 1950s. And he emphasized “family values” that Republican strategists hope will make the GOP culturally appealing to Latinos.

Bush’s advisers believe such appeals could have substantial payoffs, blunting traditional Democratic strength among Latinos in Texas, California and elsewhere in the Southwest. But as skeptical comments by some members of his audience--and persistent questions from reporters later in the day--showed, the strategy has dangers for him as well.

‘Pandering’ Label

In the past, Republican candidates have labeled similar pledges by Democrats as “pandering” to special interests. At his press conference, Bush said he could not be accused of pandering.

“If I went around from group to group it might be fair to make that charge,” he said, “but I’m not.” A pledge to appoint a member of a specific group is something “I have never done” in the past and would not do again, he said.

Probable Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis, in Boston, said Bush’s vow to name a Latino to the Cabinet was “about a year too late.” Dukakis made the same pledge in June, 1987, to the LULAC convention, held in Corpus Christi, Tex.

Republicans in nearly every presidential election since World War II have benefited by outpolling Democrats among white voters. But the party has done far worse among Latinos, blacks, Asian-Americans and other groups whose electoral strength has grown steadily in California and other politically crucial states.

Democrats are hopeful of capitalizing on that Republican weakness this year, noting that Dukakis, who will address LULAC today, speaks fluent Spanish and received strong support in Latino areas during the spring primaries.

Bush, however, has taken several steps to bolster Republican strength among minority groups. Last week, for example, he announced that New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean, a moderate who has pushed the GOP to adopt a “politics of inclusion,” would be the keynote speaker at the GOP National Convention in New Orleans next month. Kean has won considerable support among blacks in his statewide campaigns.

Fair Housing Act

Bush also has lobbied within the Administration to force Justice Department officials to stop opposing legislation that would strengthen the federal fair housing act. The legislation is expected to pass Congress later this month.

The Republican Party, Bush conceded in his speech Wednesday, has suffered from an “awkwardness” that has caused the party “not always (to be) adept” at making non-whites “feel welcome.”

But, Bush told the Latino leaders here, it is “good to acknowledge that some things are, at this point, owed.”

If Latinos consider the GOP, he said: “I believe you will like much of what you find inside. And what you don’t like, you can help change.”

The pledge to appoint a Latino won generous applause, which constrasted with the generally flat reception that the rest of his speech received. Tony Bonilla, a long-time friend of Bush who also is a prominent Democratic supporter of Jesse Jackson, called the pledge “patronizing,” and others noted that Bush, in eight years, had been unable to persuade President Reagan to make high-level Latino appointments.

Bush said he had talked with Reagan in the past about appointing Latinos but, he said: “I’m not the President.”