Doing Bush a Favor

THERE MUST BE SOMETHING JUICY ON THE MORE than 4,000 White House computer tapes George Bush has fought so hard to control. In January a federal judge barred the White House from erasing the tapes and criticized Don Wilson, the Archivist of the U.S., saying he breached his legal duty by failing to ensure that the records were preserved. On the last night of the Administration, Wilson nonetheless signed a document giving Bush exclusive legal control of all presidential information on the tapes -- although under federal law, control of presidential material is supposed to remain with the government. At the time Wilson was under consideration for a $114,000-a-year job as head of the George Bush Center at Texas A & M University, a post he has subsequently taken. Wilson said he played "no role" in drawing up the document brought to him by government lawyers with the assurance that it was "proper and legal." Said a Senate staff member: "Poor Don Wilson. They held a pen to his head."