Perfectly Clear Dept.

Even the mistakes had mistakes at the Western White House last week.

First came the announcement of the names of 25 members of the National Voluntary Service Advisory Council, a group which counsels Action, an umbrella agency for federal voluntary social service organizations. At the top of the list was the name of Mrs. Richard M. Nixon, designated "temporary chair woman." And, yes, it seemed she was to be paid the standard Government consulting fee of $138.48 per working day.

A terrible mistake, Deputy Press Secretary Gerald Warren declared two days later. The White House had just discovered that the appointment was il legal, the result of an administrative error. A President of the U.S. is prohibited by law from appointing his or her spouse to a Government agency. The First Lady's name was to be withdrawn, and another temporary chairman was to be appointed.

Wrong again, Warren confessed the next day. It wasn't that the appointment had been illegal. It had never been made in the first place. Mrs. Nixon had been meant all along for the job of honorary chairwoman, without pay. The word "temporary" had been substituted for "honorary," and the President had not appointed his wife to anything. Nor would she consider under any circumstances ever being paid for charitable work. Said Action Director Michael Balzano Jr.: "Mrs. Nixon wouldn't accept a nickel for this." A White House aide meanwhile described the First Lady as "disturbed" by the entire episode.

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