Salon.com > Micah L. Sifry

Perot gears up

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 21:38:00 +0000

Is Ross Perot plotting a return to the national stage in time for the 2004 elections? Judging from a well-written 95-page book proposal making its way through the New York publishing circuit, a copy of which arrived unbidden in my e-mail, the crazy aunt in the basement wants to sing again.

For connoisseurs of political entertainment, "America the Broken: How to Reform and Revive the Greatest Democracy Ever Known," which Perot is proposing to coauthor with James Champy, bestselling author of "Reengineering the Corporation," promises everything we miss about ol' jug ears. The "short, intense book" will be "liberally furnished with charts, of the sort Ross Perot used in his 1992 campaign." The "giant sucking sound" of jobs going overseas is back, only this time the bugaboo is white-collar knowledge industry jobs, not manufacturing. There will be stories of how Ross forced Texas educators, kicking and screaming, to reform their public schools, and homilies about solving complicated problems like the healthcare crisis by getting "the best qualified people in the country to put their heads together." And for those of us who always suspected self-interest lay at the root of Perot's prescriptions, his chapter on cutting government waste includes an artfully buried plug from the computer magnate for requiring Washington's myriad agencies to adopt compatible electronic systems.

The godfather from Dallas ends the party

Mon, 14 Feb 2000 17:00:00 +0000

Power politics reigned supreme in the Reform Party this weekend as a well-organized group loyal to former party chairman Russ Verney -- and by extension Ross Perot -- successfully staged a rump meeting of the party's 164-member national committee and purged its adversaries from power.

The assembled delegates voted to recall elected party chair Jack Gargan; threw out the party treasurer, a loyal Gargan lieutenant; resolved to hold the party's convention in Long Beach, Calif., instead of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota; and seated several new state delegations tilted toward Patrick Buchanan, who is seeking the party's presidential nomination. Topping off the proceedings, they elected Pat Choate, Perot's 1996 running mate and the national co-chair of the Buchanan campaign, as the party's new chairman.

The delegates seemed to be willfully ignoring political reality. Just a day after Ventura announced his disaffiliation from the national Reform Party, not a word was spoken from the meeting floor about the party's loss of its most charismatic -- and only successful -- candidate for high elected office.

Divorce, Reform-style

Sat, 12 Feb 2000 17:00:00 +0000

Jesse Ventura or Ross Perot? Donald Trump or Pat Buchanan? Jack Gargan or Russ Verney? St. Paul or Long Beach? Www.rpusa.org or www.reformparty.org?

The signs that a major split was building within the Reform Party have been apparent for months now, with open conflicts over who is in charge, where the convention should be and even which Web site is the "official" one. Friday, the dam finally burst with the announcement by Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, the party's top elected official, that he was leaving the national Reform Party because it "is hopelessly dysfunctional."

Who could disagree? It's been apparent from day one that the party apparatus brought into existence by Ross Perot's 1996 run for the presidency was uncomfortable with the prospect of sharing the stage with Ventura or handing the baton to the new generation of leadership that he represents. And ever since Jack Gargan, Ventura's candidate, was elected the party's new national chairman last summer, there have been increasingly bitter fights between the factions.

Trump bombs in first Reform appearance

Mon, 04 Oct 1999 11:00:00 +0000

Donald Trump is lucky the interview he gave last Friday wasn't published in Playboy. Because while Jesse Ventura was being raked over the coals for some flippant remarks he made about religion, Tailhook and fat people, the Donald was performing a huge belly-flop in front of the very folks he'll have to attract if he decides to battle Pat Buchanan for the Reform Party's presidential nomination.

Trump's stumble came at this weekend's convention of the American Reform Party at the Holiday Inn on the Hill. ARP is a splinter organization of ex-Perotistas that broke away from the Reform Party in 1997 out of disgust with the lack of genuine democracy within the organization.

Though the ARP is smaller than the Reform Party, with chapters in perhaps 20 states and ballot lines in none, it is a serious organization that primarily focuses on the issues rather than personalities.

Its platform, which has been developed through a process of ongoing deliberation, takes clear, specific stands on such topics as tax reform (move toward a graduated flat tax or a consumption tax), government spending (pay down the debt), immigration (tighten restrictions), political reform (term limits and public financing of elections) and trade (protection of labor rights and the environment).

Political circus

Sat, 25 Sep 1999 16:00:00 +0000

It is not only inevitable that Pat Buchanan will bolt the GOP to seek the Reform Party nomination, it is nearly as inevitable that he will win it. The only remaining potential obstacle is the uncertain candidacy of millionaire playboy Donald Trump.

The rumors of a Trump candidacy emerged as a last-ditch effort by Minnesota Reform Gov. Jesse Ventura to find somebody to stop the Buchanan juggernaut. Ventura's closest political adviser, Dean Barkley, said Thursday: "I've heard that Pat has started organizing in some states already. If he announces soon," Barkley worried, "our candidate can't wait till next June. Someone would have to announce within 30 days of Buchanan's announcement. Maybe even 30 days from now."

Trump told USA Today on Friday that he'll make his decision sometime in January, after his new book, "The America We Deserve," is published. Is Trump's flirtation with Reform more than a way of hyping his book and his businesses? There's no question that Trump is, as a non-Washington counselor puts it, "seriously engaged" in exploring the presidential race. His political advisers tell us that they're currently negotiating with three Nevada-based signature-collection firms to see what it would cost to get Trump on the ballot in the 29 states where Reform has no ballot line.

Working class hero?

Mon, 11 Jan 1999 20:00:00 +0000

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- While the rest of the country is simultaneously obsessed and outraged by the impeachment spectacle in Washington, the mood here in the Twin Cities is buoyant and optimistic. Jesse Ventura's astounding victory -- the state had the highest voter turnout in the country on Nov. 4 -- has uncorked a sense of possibility, especially among the working stiffs and ordinary folk one usually does not see clamoring to take part in the political process.

Hundreds of those average Minnesotans came to the Capitol Rotunda Monday to witness Ventura's swearing-in, many of them waiting hours in the subzero cold for a chance to meet the new governor and shake his hand. There was a bus driver from the east side of St. Paul, a 29-year-old single father, who said he was excited about the Reform Party because "we need something new." There was a middle-aged car dealer in a sweat shirt who voted for Ventura because "he's real people." A 17-year-old in a leather jacket with his cap down over his eyes, who said he "used to go to Champlain High School," where Ventura is a volunteer football coach, shyly admitted that it was pretty unusual for someone like him to come to the state Capitol, but he wanted to be there to help the governor. There were lots of families with young children in tow. People were dressed as if they were going to a hockey game, not an inauguration.

Body slam

Fri, 06 Nov 1998 20:00:00 +0000

Even Jesse Ventura, the Navy Seal and professional wrestler-turned-talk radio host, small-town mayor and now, Minnesota's governor-elect, seemed at an uncharacteristic loss for words when asked to explain his stunning victory. "Ask them," he told reporters, meaning the voters, on the day after his upset election.

Looking at the voters is a good place to start. Ventura, the Reform Party candidate, won the three-way race against Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III by a vote of 37 to 34 to 29 percent, respectively. But the day before the election, the Star-Tribune/KMSP-TV Minnesota Poll showed him tied with Humphrey at 29 percent each, with Coleman leading at 36 percent. What happened?