Posted on Tue, Jun. 07, 2005 Governor's views on Felt are troubling By Bill Cotterell CAPITAL CURMUDGEON   How's that again, Governor? Following last week's revelation that W. Mark Felt was The Washington Post's secret source in those halcyon days of Watergate, Gov. Jeb Bush said he wasn't sure if the former FBI topsider was a hero, a villain, partly both or neither. All right so far; it's known that Felt resented not getting the top job when J. Edgar Hoover died and, besides, he was convicted for authorizing burglaries at homes of anti-war radicals. But Bush also said Felt should have taken his information to the proper authorities instead of skulking around parking decks with Bob Woodward. That's a haughty attitude toward the public's right to know, one that's sadly prevalent in his and his brother's administrations. Who were those proper authorities Felt should have gone to? Well, there was Richard Kleindienst, the attorney general who pleaded guilty to perjury. There was L. Patrick Gray, the acting FBI director who gave investigation files to White House counsel John Dean - back before Dean did for President Nixon what Sammy "The Bull" Gravano did for John Gotti. Gray's nomination to head the FBI was withdrawn when the Senate began questioning his novel method of investigation. Felt couldn't have known in 1973 that Kleindienst would cop a perjury plea in 1975 or that later investigations would reveal Gray's obstruction. But he had 20 years in what was, in those days, somewhat whimsically called the Justice Department - long enough to know that the unwritten, official policy was to "contain" the investigation. But if Felt felt he had to go outside, why the Post? Why not find a wise old pillar of the legal establishment like former Attorney General John Mitchell? All right, bad example. The Baltimore Sun surveyed some high-school students in a philosophy class and found most of them agreeing Felt should have stayed in-house. Some even said the press should be forbidden to use leaks. But they're too young to know the depth of corruption Watergate embodied. Bush was only 19 to 22 years old back then, but we can assume that, in the Republican National Committee chairman's family, the political discussion was pretty sophisticated. Young Jeb and George probably learned early the importance of message control. We see it in an ironclad order in state government: Don't talk to the press. That's what our public information office is for. "Accountability" means we type up the FCAT or Convergys or school-voucher numbers and decide what data to release. In fairness, every governor I've covered, back to Claude Kirk, has wanted total control. And in fairness, the press can be as biased one way as a Republican administration is the other way. But in Washington, that other Bush administration pays columnists like Armstrong Williams to praise its policies, sends fake video "news" reports to local TV stations and issues day passes for guys like James Guckert (aka "Jeff Gannon") to shill from inside the White House press room. Meanwhile, New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time magazine's Matt Cooper face prison for not naming a source who identified a CIA agent - information they didn't print. Columnist Robert Novak, who did "out" the CIA agent, isn't being prosecuted, presumably because the administration likes him. Maybe Felt wasn't all hero. Maybe he was just adhering to that old tradition of turf protection and Woodward was playing the equally old game of not looking a gift source in the mouth. But if we limit our sources to those who act purely out of altruism, a lot of stories will not get told. A footnote to all of this is that a White House tape recording on Oct. 19, 1972, caught chief of staff H.R. Haldeman and Nixon saying Felt was probably leaking but he knew too much to fire him. They couldn't have known that while Nixon was dripping what he termed "a limited, modified hangout," Felt was leaking a tsunami. President Reagan pardoned Felt in 1981 while he was appealing his conviction in those burglaries. Nixon sent him a bottle of champagne and a note that said "justice, at last." The 37th president didn't live to see last week's just deserts. Too bad. He, more than anyone, would be interesting to hear on the topic of keeping information within official channels. Gov. Bush probably really thinks the public would have been better served if Felt dutifully took what he knew to his bosses - that is, the co-conspirators. He and the president have probably convinced themselves that the Post should have received its Watergate information from the Justice Department press office and the White House press secretary, Ron ("third-rate burglary") Zeigler, who coined the term "inoperative" for alibis that kept turning into lies. Maybe in revising the Patriot Act, they can punish reporters who won't stick to rewriting handouts. Before the Bush era is over, they should create a special penitentiary for those who get illegal tips from men like Mark Felt. They could even name it for him - the Felt Tip Pen. Contact political editor Bill Cotterell at (850) 671-6545 or bcotterell@tallahassee.com.