"A Clean Bill of Health"

By Jacob V. Lamar

For a month, the rumors mounted as President-elect George Bush let his choice to run the Pentagon twist slowly in the wind. Liberal critics complained that former Texas Senator John Tower was too cozy with defense contractors. Some conservatives questioned his fealty to the Strategic Defense Initiative. Gossips whispered about his reputation for boozing and womanizing. Last week, after one of the most prolonged background checks the FBI has ever conducted, Bush finally named Tower his Secretary of Defense.

Why did the selection take so long? Tower, 63, had been mentioned repeatedly by suspects in the Justice Department's "Ill Wind" investigation of corruption in defense contracting. But after an extensive review of the evidence, the FBI concluded that the suspects were merely dropping his name in an attempt to enhance their purported influence. Tower was cleared of any involvement in wrongdoing. In addition, the FBI probed his former wife's allegations that while serving as an arms-control negotiator in Geneva he had affairs with foreign women. Such liaisons would raise the possibility that Tower had been compromised by a foreign government. He denied the affairs, and the FBI absolved him of any suspicion of entrapment by enemy agents. The bureau, declared Bush, gave Tower "a clean bill of health."

Although Tower is a former Senator, his confirmation is likely to be rough. Because of his renown as the Senate's most voluble defender of the Reagan military buildup, he can expect tough questions on how he will prune as much as $300 billion from projected defense expenditures over the next four years. Last week Tower declared that he was ready to cope with a new era of Pentagon austerity, promising "as much if not more defense for less money." But Bush will nonetheless insist that Tower choose a tightfisted manager as his top Pentagon aide.

Even as the rumors about Tower continued to swirl, they were joined by a new -- and to Bush, infuriating -- round of leaks about the imminent appointment of Jack Kemp as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Bush offered the post to his defeated rival for the G.O.P. nomination last Wednesday. Two days later, the story hit the front pages. At week's end the President-elect had said nothing about the appointment, though aides to both Bush and Kemp said it would be announced this week -- unless Bush changes his mind.

If it goes through, the appointment of Kemp, 53, a nine-term New York Congressman who is retiring from the House next month, will be a political twofer. On the one hand, he is a favorite of the right wing, a supply-side apostle who championed the Reagan tax cuts in 1981. On the other, he is one of the few prominent Republican politicians in good standing with the black community. He has consistently exhorted the G.O.P. to reach out to minorities and the poor. Though Kemp made the short list of possible Bush vice- presidential running mates, the former Buffalo Bills quarterback has never been a favorite of the President-elect. But his selection would add some pizazz to a Cabinet that is quickly filling up with bland, middle-of-the-road pragmatists.

Kemp surprised some Washington insiders by seeking the HUD post, a job that has had little stature during the Reagan Administration. For the past eight years, the HUD Secretary has been Samuel Pierce, the only black in Reagan's Cabinet, who has gone so unnoticed that he has earned the nickname "Silent Sam." Kemp would bring a more ambitious agenda to HUD. For years, he has been a strong advocate of Urban Enterprise Zones, in which the Federal Government would give investors tax breaks to encourage the economic revitalization of inner cities. He has also proposed selling public housing to its tenants.

As he mulled the Kemp appointment, Bush scrambled to fulfill his pledge to add minorities to his Cabinet. He met last week with Dr. Louis Sullivan, president of Atlanta's predominantly black Morehouse School of Medicine and the leading candidate for the Health and Human Services spot. He also tapped Clayton Yeutter, now special trade representative, to head the Agriculture Department.

With seven Cabinet seats remaining to be filled, Bush's irritation over unauthorized disclosures of his selections is evident. During a recent photo session with a group of his state political coordinators, a reporter bruised the decorum by inquiring about the latest rumored appointments to his Cabinet. Bush responded with an impromptu etiquette lesson. "Talking at photo ops will continue until Jan. 20," he chided, "and after that there will be absolutely none." He added that questions shouted by reporters are "demeaning to your profession. You shouldn't have to yell at me to get an answer."

In his determination to plug leaks, the President-elect has imposed a secrecy pledge on his transition staff. He has also replaced his campaign mantra, "Read my lips," with a new slogan: "Stay tuned. Wait for the announcement." Says an aide: "I don't count anything a done deal until George Bush announces it. He can be unpredictable." Last week Bush spited journalists who prematurely published the identity of his choice for Transportation Secretary by postponing the nomination of Chicago attorney Samuel Skinner.

With reporting by Dan Goodgame/Washington