Meese, Senators Hold ‘Frank’ Talk on His Job : Resignation Possibility Is Discussed but He Gives No Indication of Quitting, Conservatives Report

WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III had a “candid and frank discussion” Wednesday with a group of conservative Republican senators on the possibility of his resignation, but he gave no indication that he will step down, participants said.

None of the seven senators attending the 1 1/2-hour luncheon meeting on Capitol Hill urged Meese to resign in the session, which all sources described as “very friendly.” However, one participant said the attorney general was told that he must consider whether he is damaging President Reagan, the Republican Party and himself by remaining.

Reagan continued to defend his embattled attorney general, saying that the accusations against Meese are “all empty charges.” Nevertheless, the discussion of Meese’s possible departure, which the attorney general and the senators raised mutually, indicates continued concern over his legal problems, despite Reagan’s frequent expressions of support.

Weicker Comment

Such concern was even voiced aboard the same plane that took the President on a trip to Connecticut on Wednesday. Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R-Conn.), flying with Reagan on Air Force One to attend graduation ceremonies at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, said: “I’ve been battling the son of a bitch ever since he became attorney general. I don’t like him.”

But Weicker, a longtime critic of Meese, added that he would not decide whether to call for his resignation until an investigation of the attorney general by independent counsel James C. McKay is completed, probably late this month.

The senators who met with Meese, along with his new chief spokesman, Patrick S. Korten, describe themselves as the “Republican steering committee.” They are Sens. James A. McClure of Idaho, chairman of the group; Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who has often voiced concern about the Justice Department recently; Jesse Helms of North Carolina; Orrin G. Hatch of Utah; Chic Hecht of Nevada; Bob Kasten of Wisconsin and Malcolm Wallop of Wyoming.

‘He’s Not a Quitter’

“I think he’d like to continue as attorney general until the end of the Reagan term,” Hatch said. “But he acknowledged that a lot depends on what the (McKay) report says. . . . The tenor of his discussion was that he should remain in office if the report doesn’t severely criticize him. He’s not a quitter and he has a lot to accomplish.”

A spokesman for Thurmond said Meese assured the senators “that the Justice Department was continuing to run smoothly, despite all the allegations . . . and despite what they might be reading in the media.”

When asked about the resignations of Deputy Atty. Gen. Arnold I. Burns and Assistant Atty. Gen. William F. Weld, head of the department’s criminal division, Meese “reminded them that they are only two out of 260 to 270 top employees,” Thurmond’s spokesman said.

“Nobody said: ‘Gee, Ed, you ought to resign,’ ” another source who attended the session said. Instead, “it was: ‘Here are the minuses, and here are the pluses’--and Meese assured them he was aware” of the factors.

Byrd Cites Lance Case

But Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), describing the Justice Department as “crippled” under Meese, likened the situation to what President Jimmy Carter faced when his friend and then-budget director, Bert Lance, was accused of financial wrongdoing.

Byrd, at a luncheon meeting with reporters, disclosed that he had gone to Carter about the Lance problem: “I said, ‘President Carter, you are loyal to this man, but it’s getting to the point where it’s going to hurt the party, it’s going to hurt you and he really ought to resign and attend to the problems that are personally affecting him.’ ”

He said Carter then asked him to repeat his message to Lance, and Byrd said he did so. He recalled that Lance “didn’t get offended with me” and resigned soon after.

Pipeline Project

The attorney general is being investigated on a number of grounds, including his involvement in a controversial Iraqi pipeline project and actions he took that benefited the scandal-torn Wedtech Corp.

On Wednesday, Meese’s lawyers issued a response disputing a recent finding by a Senate subcommittee that Meese had violated a White House policy limiting contacts with procurement officials when he interceded on behalf of the scandal-torn Wedtech Corp.’s bid for a government contract. The lawyers contended the panel’s charges were based on errors of fact.

In a related development, new details surfaced Wednesday about Meese’s firing of his chief spokesman, Terry H. Eastland. Eastland had said that Meese removed him because he wanted someone who would more “aggressively” defend him, a description that Meese dismissed as “a bunch of baloney.”

But a source familiar with a 25-minute meeting last Friday between Meese and Eastland said that the attorney general had indeed told Eastland that he had not been defending him strongly enough. Specifically, according to this source, Meese cited a press conference in which he said Eastland was unprepared, Eastland’s response to a question about Meese’s effectiveness and an editorial cartoon in the Kansas City Star.

Call by Gov. Kean

The question of Meese’s effectiveness was raised when New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean became the first Republican governor to call for Meese to step down on grounds that his effectiveness had become fatally impaired.

Eastland was quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer as stating that Meese “obviously believes he is fully effective in his job. . . . He has indicated on several occasions that he has no intention of stepping aside or resigning his position.”

Meese, according to the source familiar with the meeting, asked why Eastland had not said that he himself was confident that the attorney general was fully effective, rather than having Meese make the appraisal. Eastland noted that the question asked for Meese’s opinion, not his, but the explanation did not satisfy the attorney general.

The editorial cartoon, which Meese contends resulted from Eastland’s ineffective public relations efforts, showed Reagan looking up from a horoscope column to ask Meese: “Hey, Ed, what’s your sign?” In the next frame, Meese responds by holding up a sign reading: “For Sale.”