SAYS NO COCAINE IN 7 YEARS; WON'T TALK ABOUT EARLIER LIFE

HOUSTON - An agitated Texas Gov. George W. Bush, pressed by a reporter
about persistent rumors that he had once used cocaine, said yesterday
that he has not used drugs in the past seven years but refused to
answer other questions about illegal drug use before that time.

During what was supposed to be a routine news conference in Austin
Bush tried to dismiss questions

about whether he ever used illegal drugs as "ridiculous and absurd
rumors," adding I know they are being planted, and they are ridiculous
and they're absurd, and the people of America are sick and tired of
this kind of politics and I am not participating."

In a rising voice, Bush continued, interrupting a reporter who said
she was trying to ask who might be planting such rumors. "You know
what happens, somebody floats a rumor and it causes you to ask a
question," Bush said. "And that's the game in American politics, and I
refuse to play it. That is a game. And you just fell for the trap. And
I refuse to play."

Later, during a campaign stop in New Orleans, Bush changed his
response after the Dallas Morning News questioned him about the
requirement that federal employees answer questions about drug use to
get high-level security clearances.

"As I understand it, the current form asks the question, 'Did somebody
use drugs within the last seven years? and I will be glad to answer
that question, and the answer is no," the News quoted Bush as saying
in a story for today's editions.

Bush, who is 53, would not elaborate beyond the seven-year time frame.
He said that if elected, he would make po change in the federal policy
that requires high-level presidential appointees to answer questions
about drug use in the standard FBI background check.

"It's a legitimate question to ask to make sure there are no drug
users on the White House staff," Bush told the newspaper. But, he
added, "The president should recognize that some people may have made
mistakes when they were younger, and the question the president must
ask is, did they learn from tl~ose mistakes and will they not repeat
them again."

The questions are hardly new for Bush. Ever since he defeated
incumbent Democrat Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial
election, Bush has walked a fine line as to which personal questions
he will answer and which he will not. In particular, he has refused -
to say whether he has ever used illegal drugs, often offering the same
wry reply: 'When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and
irresponsible."

Bush has been asked repeatedly about whether he used illegal drugs,
including cocaine, earlier in his life, although no credible
allegations have been made that he did so. A number of papers have
looked into rumors about drug use and have found no evidence to
sustain them. In May, the Wall Street journal dedicated an article to
the proliferation of the rumors and the absence of any proof.

Thbe issue seems to have had little effect on Bush's standing, even in
a conservative, law-and-order state like Texas, where he has pushed
for tougher penalties against drug users.

But as the early front-runner for the Republican presidential
nomination, Bush is finding that his stock response has not doused the
questions, unfounded or not, but has seemingly done the opposite. AD
of Bush's rivals for the Republican nomination have said they never
used cocaine.

Scott McClellan, a Bush campaign spokesman, characterized the issue
yesterday as "baseless allegations and ridiculous rumors." But
McClellan added: 'What he may or may not have done in the past is not
the question we should be asking. It is, 'Has he learned from his
mistakes?' and the answer is yes."

Bush and his campaign staff have admitted that he made what they have
described as youthful mistakes. In several profiles, the governor has
admitted that he drank too much beer and bourbon until swearing off
alcohol on his 40th birthday. Although he has refused to answer
questions about drugs, Bush has said without equivocation that he has
remained faithful to his wife, Laura, throughout their marriage.

"The important facts that people deserve to know about have to do with
how he has fulfilled his duties as father, husband, governor and
employer," McClellan said. "Ihese are the relevant questions about how
he will fulfill his responsibilities."

But as governor, Bush has taken the lead on several antidrug efforts,
consistent with his own law-and-order philosophy. In November 1996,
.after receiving reports of increased drug use among teenagers, Bush
said,-'We must speak with one clear voice to warn children and
grownups of the dangers of drugs."

In 1997, he signed a law that toughened penalties for people arrested
for selling or possessing less than one gram of cocaine. Previously,
state sentencing guidelines required that a judge give mandatory
probation in such cases, McClellan said. Under the change signed by
Bush, judges now are allowed to sentence such offenders to time in
jail.

In 1995, Bush signed a law that increased the punishment for anyone
arrested for selling or posseing illegal drugs within 1,000 feet of a
school or a school bus.