Staff Spats

Mondale under fire

Whatever the relationship between a President and his Vice President, the tension between their two jealously protective staffs is inevitably worse. For several weeks, some of Jimmy Carter's aides have been complaining in off-the-record talks to reporters that Walter Mondale is not taking his work seriously enough and perhaps should be dropped as Carter's running mate next year. Mondale's angry aides have responded with equally anonymous claims that their boss had opposed some of the President's more controversial recent actions and was dismayed at the ineptitude of Carter's advisers. Last week the warfare broke into the open in news stories relating the wishful hopes of a few Mondale supporters that Carter, rather than Mondale, might be dumped as the Democrats seek a compromise presidential candidate to avoid a fight between Carter and Ted Kennedy.

Actually, few political professionals take the idea of a Mondale candidacy for the top spot seriously. They agree with Mondale's frequent assessment that he is too closely tied to Carter's fortunes. "My base is Carter's base," Mondale has insisted. "If he does well, I do well." Contends even one of Mondale's admirers: "Fritz hasn't got the guts to become a candidate on his own. If he did, he'd have broken with Carter long ago. The only way it could happen is if they kick him out."

But if a Mondale reach for the presidency looks fanciful now, the intramural White House staff squabbling is real. "Mondale is a clown," charged a ranking insider recently. "He has difficulty comprehending the significance of important issues. He is certainly not presidential material." According to such critics, Mondale is "lazy," taking afternoon naps in his office and tending to go home at 5 p.m. Complains a White House aide: "Fritz has no staying power. You give him an assignment, an area to oversee, and after a few months he loses interest." The same staffer insists that Mondale never pushes contrary ideas on the President. "Jimmy would love to get a good argument out of him, but every time we think Fritz is going to dig in his heels, he caves in."

Such Carter aides as Hamilton Jordan, Tim Kraft and Evan Dobelle have floated rumors that Carter is seeking a new vice presidential candidate. Leaders of a few groups, including labor unions, have been sounded out for their reactions to such substitutes as Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso, New York Governor Hugh Carey or New York Senator Daniel P. Moynihan. "I don't know if they meant it seriously, or as a ploy for support," said one union staff member, "but the approach sure was unmistakable."

Mondale's loyalists have fought back by citing instances in which their man advised against Carter policies but lost. They insist he opposed the decision to let U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young resign, argued for the retention of HEW Secretary Joseph Califano and criticized the call for resignations of all Cabinet and senior White House staff members in July.

The President and Vice President have tried to quell their staffs' quarrels. Declared Mondale: "I can only repeat what I've said many, many times: that I hope President Carter will seek re-election and I believe he will, and that if he does I have a strong conviction that he will be re-elected and I will be honored to be his running mate." Warned Carter at a meeting of his senior staff: "I want to let the White House and Mondale staffs know that the people at the top don't consider we have any problem, so the people down below should not make it one."

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