George Bush met with television evangelist Jim Bakker at a time when he was gearing up for his presidential run against another TV preacher, Pat Robertson, but a Bush spokesman said Monday the vice president ``didn't ask for anything or promise anything.'' Comments by White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater and Bush's onetime press secretary Pete Teeley left some confusion over the purpose for the November 1985 meeting at Bakker's headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. Fitzwater, who attended the meeting, initially told a White House press briefing Monday that it was to seek support for Bush's forthcoming presidential race. But later he said he had misspoken and that the meeting was not political, but rather was in Bush's capacity as vice president _ ``a standard meeting of the kind that we had hundreds of. The vice president didn't ask for anything or promise anything.'' Fitzwater, who was Bush's vice presidential press secretary and will be White House press secretary when Bush takes office in January, made the comments at his daily briefing at the White House where he is currently President Reagan's spokesman. His account conflicted with that of Teeley, who at the time of the Bush-Bakker meeting was working as a marketing consultant for Bakker's PTL ministry. Teeley said Monday that Bush's meeting with Bakker was part of ``coalition building'' for the future presidential race and that the vice president met with many evangelical leaders for the same purpose, including the Rev. Billy Graham, the Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Rev. Robert Schuler. ``Those things were done every day. ... It didn't matter where you were _ Pittsburgh, Charlotte or Miami _ if you could meet with some people who were active politically, you tried to sit down and talk with them,'' Teeley said in telephone interview. Fitzwater, answering questions at Monday's briefing, initially had said Bush ``was seeking his support for the campaign, absolutely. ... You have hundreds of meetings like that when you're running for president.'' Later Fitzwater said that was not the correct characterization, that the only support Bush sought was for the Reagan administration's policies. In March 1987, Bakker stepped down from his PTL ministry, as his sexual involvement with former church secretary Jessica Hahn created headlines. At the time Bush met him, there had been no disclosure of such activity by Bakker. A report Sunday in The Washington Post contained an allegation by former Bakker bodyguard Don Hardister that Bush and Bakker talked about a possible admihistration job for Bakker. Asked about that report, Fitzwater told reporters, ``I don't know what Bakker thought. There was no talk of jobs or payoffs or anything else. It was a simple meeting as the vice president had with hundreds of other people and individuals asking their support ... asking his support for various policies and so forth. ``They talked about their Christian beliefs. They talked about the Robertson campaign. It was just a friendly discussion,'' Fitzwater told the briefing. Bush met with Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye, in November 1985, as he was looking ahead to his race for the GOP presidential nomination. Eventually he defeated Robertson, host of the popular ``700 Club'' Christian television show, in the primaries. The Bush forces had been concerned about Robertson's unknown potential to pull votes from the religious right. Besides Bush's own meeting with Bakker, the vice president had three close associates whom Bakker hired as consultants: Teeley; Doug Weed, a sometime guest host on the ``700 Club'' who worked as a liaison for Bush's campaign with religious groups; and Dean Burch, former head of the Federal Communications Commission and the Republican National Committee. Weed currently works for the Bush presidential transition staff as a liaison with religious groups. Teeley, who acknowledged earning $120,000 for his PTL work, said his work for Bakker pertained to marketing and had no relation to Bush or politics.
