Five more Bush workers resign

Press, 14 September 1988, Page 12

Five more Bush workers resign

NZPA-Reuter Washington Five more election campaign aides working for Republican Presidential candidate, George Bush, resigned yesterday amid charges of anti-semitism. A campaign spokeswoman, Sheila Tate, announced the resignations from Mr Bush’s Coalition of American Nationalities, a group seeking ethnic votes for the Republican candidate. She said, however,

that Bush workers had not been able to substantiate any charges of anti-semitism against the aides who resigned and the charges appeared to be politically inspired. “We have been unable to substantiate any of them (the allegations of anti-semitism),” she said. “They appear to be politically inspired and designed to detract attention from the issues. “They have done the right thing by removing

themselves from the controversy and any further use by political opponents” she said. Mr Tate named the five as Philip Guarino, Laszlo Pastor, Florian Galdau, Ignatius Bilinsky and Bohdon Fedorak. Their resignations brought to seven the number of Bush aides who have left the campaign following allegations of anti-semitism. Last week Mr Bush dismissed Jerome Bren-, tar, who was alleged to

have had ties to an organisation supporting John Demjanjuk, who was convicted in Israel of Nazi concentrationcamp killings. On Sunday, a senior Bush adviser, Fred Malek, resigned after reports that he had searched for Jews in a Government agency that compiles economic statistics in 1971 at the request of President Richard Nixon, who feared that a “Jewish cabal” in the agency wanted to hurt him

politically. Mr Malek quit as deputy chairman of the Republican Party and an adviser to Mr Bush, saying he wanted to spare Mr Bush political damage, but he denied any anti-semitism 17 years ago. The newspaper, “Jewish Week,” last week accused the campaign workers of antisemitism and a Jewish Nazi-hunting organisation said Dukakis aides asked it to investigate the allegations.