Story in Clinton's memoir baffles former presidential adviser

WASHINGTON -- Roger Porter knows more than most people about presidential power. He teaches a course at Harvard University on the American presidency and has served three Republican occupants of the White House -- Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. But this week, he got an unexpected lesson about the presidency from a former Democratic occupant of the Oval Office, Bill Clinton.

In Clinton's memoir, "My Life," the former president says that Porter practically goaded him into running for president in 1992. It allegedly happened when Porter was domestic and economic adviser to the first President Bush. Porter warned Clinton that the Bush team would try to "destroy me personally" if Clinton ran against Bush, according to Clinton's book.

"We'll spend whatever we have to spend to get whoever we have to get to say whatever they have to say to take you out," Porter said, according to Clinton.

"I was mad," Clinton wrote. "I told Roger that what he had just said showed what was wrong with the administration . . . I told Roger that what he had said made me more likely to run for president."

Porter is aghast at Clinton's allegation. "It's not true," said Porter, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. "There was no such phone call."

Porter said that he had only one conversation about the presidency with Clinton. It occurred in 1989, when Clinton was Arkansas governor and the two men discussed education policy. Porter said he told Clinton that he was more moderate than other Democrats and should consider changing his political affiliation to Republican.

Porter said he cannot fathom why Clinton tells the tale. The two talked briefly at the unveiling at Clinton's portrait at the White House last week, but the subject didn't come up because the book had not yet been made public. Clinton and his staff could not be reached for comment. Porter, the author of "Presidential Decision Making," said in the telephone interview yesterday that he is dumbfounded by Clinton's allegation. "I don't know why he would make this story up," Porter said.