A senior White House lawyer, William H. Kennedy 3d, was stripped tonight of his job overseeing background checks of Administration appointees after lapses that suggested that he himself had sought to conceal embarrassing information.

James A. Baker 3d, the White House chief of staff, sent a letter to Cabinet members, agency heads and senior Administration appointees, asking for letters of resignation dated for Election Day.

The plan to reach out to black voters called for a "core group" of black Administration appointees in the Federal agencies to speak as "surrogates" for the President before black organizations.

But today the governors approved the creation of a 14-member committee that will include six governors, equally divided between the political parties, and four Administration appointees.

The rules would prohibit top Administration appointees from lobbying the Government for five years after leaving their posts.

Mr. Ickes dismissed the notion that the new rules for Administration appointees did not go far enough.

In recent months, several well-known Administration appointees have announced their intention to resign only to linger in office long afterward, seemingly unable or unwilling to leave the public stage.

Ms. Hanson, like other Administration appointees who testified earlier, said that none of her actions, or Mr. Altman's, or those of White House officials, blocked or interfered with the Madison investigation.

Nearly three weeks after President-elect Bill Clinton said tighter ethics rules for Administration appointees would be forthcoming, transition officials acknowledged today that they were having trouble producing the restrictions.

Administration appointees have left top Federal posts because they cannot afford even a moderate term in government.