Top Strategist Quits After Prostitute Reports

Dick Morris, the controversial on-again, off-again Democratic strategist who inspired President Clinton to adopt a more moderate family-values message, resigned abruptly Thursday in response to reports he had shared campaign secrets with a $200-an-hour prostitute.

Even though many Democrats resented Morris’ influence over the president, they nevertheless were distressed that the resignation would overshadow the final night of the Democratic National Convention and detract from an otherwise successful effort to capture favorable publicity.

The president issued a statement describing his departed aide as a friend and saying he is grateful for the help that Morris had given him.

Morris himself quickly checked out of his room at the convention headquarters hotel and left town. He refused to discuss the story, saying only he was resigning to save his family from “the sadistic vitriol of yellow journalism.”

Morris’ departure was precipitated by a story in the Star tabloid newspaper quoting call girl Sherry Rowlands saying Morris permitted her to listen in on his telephone conversations with Clinton during some of their liaisons and showed her a confidential draft of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s convention speech.

Among the other secrets Morris allegedly shared with Rowlands: news that American researchers had found signs of past life on Mars.

The story was accompanied by a splashy photo spread and a copy of a check Morris had endorsed to Rowlands.

The story immediately became the talk of the convention.

“Everyone’s terribly upset about the timing,” said Bob Bloom, 60, of Mesa, Ariz., echoing the sentiments of many delegates here.

Bob Dole, the Republican nominee, predicted that Morris’ departure would hasten Clinton’s shift back to the left. “Morris has been trying to make President Clinton a Republican, now maybe he’ll revert to the liberal Democrat that he really is,” Dole told reporters in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he is vacationing.

Privately, of course, Dole’s advisers were as gleeful as Clinton’s were upset.

“It is clear the sleaze factor is going to be an issue in this race,” an unidentified Dole aide told CNN. “Eight members of the Cabinet have been investigated. You know somebody by the company they keep … “

Clinton aides familiar with Morris’ stormy relationship with the president and the first lady over the past 20 years were not surprised that the mercurial political strategist had caused Clinton public embarrassment at a crucial point in his career.

Morris’ defenders as well as his critics describe him as manipulative, self-absorbed and an opportunist who had no compunction about switching back and forth between the Democratic and Republican parties. Morris has worked for such Republicans as Sens. Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Trent Lott of Mississippi - both friends of Dole.

Until recently, Morris’ role in the Clinton campaign was not widely known. A cover story in Time magazine earlier this week titled “The Man Who Has Clinton’s Ear,” served to reinforce a growing view among Democrats that he was a sort of Wizard of Oz figure - pulling levers from behind the scenes.

To be sure, White House officials conceded Morris has had a remarkable impact on Clinton’s political message. He is the author of what political analyst Kevin Phillips calls “the $48 programs” - small initiatives, such as Clinton’s advocacy of school uniforms, that cost the government little or nothing but appeal to American parents who are concerned about raising their children in a difficult world.

But officials insist that Morris’ influence has been exaggerated. They note that Clinton’s big budget victory earlier this year was won after the president rejected his advice against compromise. In addition, Clinton is known to have rejected Morris’ more recent proposal to make a broad capital gains tax cut a centerpiece of the campaign.

During the campaign, Morris has been living in a hotel in Washington, using an office in the White House and commuting home on weekends to Connecticut, where he lives with his wife, lawyer Eileen McCann. The Star reported that Rowlands and Morris began a yearlong affair after she was dispatched to his hotel room by the escort service for which she worked. According to the story, she later left the service and stayed with him in his hotel room during his Washington stays. She said to convince her he was an important presidential adviser, he let her listen to portions of phone calls he had with Clinton, showed her advance texts of major speeches and tipped her on upcoming news announcements, including the Mars scientific discovery.