Bush Press Secretary, Citing ‘Personal Reasons,’ Resigns

WASHINGTON — Vice President George Bush’s press secretary, who had worked until March for California Gov. George Deukmejian, resigned unexpectedly Friday and plans to return to California, Bush’s office announced.

In a letter released by the office, Bush press spokesman Larry Thomas cited “a variety of complex personal reasons” for leaving the job that he had held for only three months, but he offered no specific explanation for his departure.

“It took us completely by surprise. I’m not even sure the vice president knew about it until today,” one senior Bush aide said Friday.

Craig L. Fuller, Bush’s chief of staff, said in a prepared statement that Thomas remained “a friend and supporter of the vice president” and will stay involved in Bush’s political activities from his home.

The statement was issued in Tucson, where Bush, an unannounced candidate for President, was on a political trip after a successful fund-raising swing through California. Thomas remained in California.

Friends who saw Thomas at a private party in Sacramento on Thursday said he gave no indication that he was about to resign and, to the contrary, had invited acquaintances to visit him in Washington.

Thomas had been hired to replace Bush’s last press secretary, Marlin Fitzwater, after Fitzwater succeeded former White House spokesman Larry Speakes last January.