WASHINGTON -- President Reagan insists there is no nepotism involved in some hiring done by his administration, parti:ularly at the United States Information Agency, because no one is 'hiring his own relatives.'
Reagan's comments during a nationally broadcast news conference Tuesday night came the day after Caspar Weinberger Jr., son of the defense secretary, resigned his USIA post amid controversy over the agency's hiring of administration relatives.
In addition to Weinberger, relatives of national security adviser William Clark, former Secretary of State Alexander Haig and White House Communications Director David Gergen have been placed on the agency's payroll.
Reagan, however, insisted there is nothing improper about the hirings.
'Isn't almost anyone that you appoint to a position in government someone that you either know or know through someone, because how else how else do you find the kind of people that you want for the jobs?' he asked.
'Nepotism, in my line, would be if the person in charge is hiring his own relatives,' said Reagan. 'And there's been nothing of that kind going on.'
Weinberger's resignation followed a flurry of new publicity about his holding the government job -- which pays in the range of $50,000 a year -- after it was learned he recently received a $5,000 merit pay raise.
Administration sources said the raise was approved by USIA Deputy Director Gilbert Robinson, who also resigned Monday.
The USIA, charged with improving America's image abroad, recently has been criticized by some members of Congress for hiring the children of a number of major administration figures.
Reagan also said 'the young people that were hired, were hired because they were eminently well-qualified for the jobs.'
'Like most of the people that we've appointed to government, they took those supposed high-paying jobs at something of a sacrifice in relation to what they could get in civilian life,' he said.
Weinberger, in his early 30s, held a post in the USIA's television section.
