Skelly quits job rather than curtail criticism of nominee

PHOENIX (AP) – Scottsdale Republican Rep. Jim Skelly says he has resigned his Greyhound Corp. job rather than knuckle down to pressure from Greyhound Chairman Gerald Trautman over Skelly’s criticism of the Sandra O’Connor Supreme Court nomination. Skelly, 47, a long-time abor- tion foe who earned $18,700 a year as a Greyhound customer relations representative in addition to his annual $15 000 legislative salary, said Thu~ay he quit after Trautman called him on Wednesday to complaint ~t Skelly’s remarks in opposition to the nomination “were intemperate.” He said Trautman especially objected to a published report that Skelly had said he was outraged by ~agan’s choice. When Trautman “put pressure on me to tone down my criticism of Sandra,” Skelly said, “I pointed out that ‘outraged’ was not in quotes, but that it might as well be because that’s the way I felt. “I told him I can’t tone down my remarks and said I was resigning,” Skelly added. He said Trautman told him, “Don’t resign, just take a week to think it over” but that “I told him I could thin,k about it till doomsday and it wouldn’t make any difference.” Trautman could not be reached, but Dorothy Lorant, vice president for public relations, issued this statement: ‘”We at Greyhound feel that Judge O’Connor is one of the most level-headed, intelligent justices, male or female, ever to serve on the bench, and that her appointment to the U.S. Supr~me Court would enhance that body. “Jim Skelly is a fine man and a conscientious