Republican official resigns after story

Press, 13 September 1988, Page 8

Republican official resigns after story

NZPA-Reuter Washington

A Republican Party official appointed by the Presidential candidate, George Bush, resigned yesterday after a newspaper story said he surveyed the number of Jews in a Government bureau in 1971 for the former President, Richard Nixon. Frederick Malek resigned as deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, denying he took any part in job discrimination against Jews but saying he did not want the story to distract from Vice-Presi-dent Bush’s campaign. The “Washington Post” had reported that as a White House aide to Mr Nixon in 1971, Mr Malek carried out instructions to find out how many Jews were in the Bureau of

Labour Statistics, which issues monthly unemployment figures. The newspaper said Mr Nixon ordered Mr Malek, then the White House personnel chief, to investigate what White House aides called a “Jewish cabal” in the bureau. It said Mr Malek reported back that 13 of the bureau’s top 35 officials were Jewish.

Mr Malek said yesterday that the “Post’s” story was “offensive and incorrect in suggesting that I would have engaged in any attempt to jeopardise someone’s job because of their religious affiliation.” He said opposition candidates could distract “...

the public’s attention from the real issues of the campaign ... and I cannot allow that to happen”. “For that reason,” he

said, “I have informed the Vice-President that I have resigned my position as deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, effective immediately.”

Mr Bush said in a statement released by his campaign: “I respect Fred Malek’s decision. I know him to be a most honourable man without a trace of bigotry in his makeup.”

The “Post” said less than two months after Mr Malek reported the number of Jews in the bureau, two of them were ousted from their posts and moved to less-visible positions in the agency. The newspaper said Mr Nixon believed bureau officials were twisting unemployment data to put his Administration in a bad light.