Upon restoring script and db backups, re-attempted install but without selecting default modules and the install completed successfully. The three modules were then installed successfully one by one from the administrator back end.
Next I d/l Publisher 1.06 final release. After moving to the modules directory and initiating install process by clicking the green X icon, not only did the install break, but also broke the entire admin back end in an unrecoverable manner so that it was unusable without a third installation.
Just passing along my findings. Since the three default modules installed without issue, I would rule out that the root cause could be the module installer issue, db or script permissions issue, or server issue. Most likely something with the module itself.