Thursday, April 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
VOTERS WATCHING Ross Perot on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday couldn't have been favorably impressed. Seldom did he directly answer a question, and more often he danced around questions and a few times gave disjointed answers.
Although the tiny Texan was pushing the agenda of his Reform Party, many observers continue to believe he is making public appearances for his own candidacy. True or false, his appearance on Sunday probably did him more political damage than good.
During his discussion on NBC, viewers could have concluded that Perot showed signs of paranoia, if they didn't know the background of his expressed concerns. Sometimes what others see as paranoia is simply a person responding to attacks or planned attacks that others know little or nothing about. Rather than paranoia, it could be a sign of intelligence and background information which result in such responses.
Perot has several good reasons to believe the Republicans are out to destroy his political ambitions and those of the party he has created. For several reasons, the GOP hierarchy has concluded that Perot must be politically dead prior to the general elections of 1996. During his television interview, he refused to play dead and hinted the Republican Party had targeted him for a $1 million dirty tricks campaign. The Republicans have denied these charges.
Three weeks ago, the conservative GOP magazine The Weekly Standard ran Tucker Carlson's article, "Temperamental Tycoon," and commented editorially with "A Vulgar Spectacle." Ross Perot was the loser in the editorial and article. The magazine had a big-eared -- and bigger-mouthed -- Perot caricature and "Is He Nuts?" on the front page of the same magazine. If this publication didn't make Perot suspicious that the Republicans are out to get him, he only had to wait two weeks for the April 22 issue of the magazine.
This week's edition of The Weekly Standard has another uncomplimentary drawing of Perot, the question "Is He Honest?" and a reproduction of a Nixon White House memo regarding him, dated June 16, 1970. The memo to Harry S. Dent from Jack Gleason reads as follows:
"I understand that it was alright to contact Perot regarding his involvement with us this fall, and yesterday I did contact him. I believe our judgment that Perot is ready to participate with us is somewhat premature. In a half-hour discussion with him, he outlined the four following stipulations upon which his participation would be contingent:
"(A) The HEW situation vis-a-vis his company must first be resolved.
"(B) He would like Bob Haldeman to call him and specifically state that this project has indeed the priority that you and Herb Kalmbach have suggested it has.
"(C) He wants to meet individually with every candidate we propose to him that he support. In meeting these candidates, he wants to assure himself (1) that they have a 'plan to win' and (2) that they are philosophically and personally acceptable.
"(D) The fourth stipulation was that he in no way be identified as a contributor to these candidates. This is fairly manageable, although tricky considering the sum that we are looking for."
Inside the Republican magazine, Tucker Carlson's article, "Ross Perot and the Quid Pro Quo," tells readers that "even by the standards of the Nixon administration, Perot's request struck one official as reckless." It's a brutal article, quoting Alexander Butterfield, a former Air Force colonel working in the White House, referring to Perot as "an a--hole, a complete a--hole."
Later, Carlson writes: "Perhaps more than most businessmen, Perot had ample motive to seek favors from politicians. At times, close to half of his company's revenue came from government, usually in the form of contracts to handle the paperwork for social welfare programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Less than a decade after it was founded, E.D.S. took in more business from state-run Medicaid programs -- which, on average, produced higher profits than private-sector contracts -- than any other data-processing company in the country. Later, E.D.S. expanded its client list, administering programs for workmen's compensation, black-lung benefits and food stamps. At some point along the way, Perot seems to have realized that it is hard to get rich off welfare without the cooperation of Congress.
"By the early 1970s, Perot had become a major player in congressional elections. In 1972, two E.D.S. employees secretly gave $100,000 to finance a presidential bid by House Ways and Means Chairman Wilbur Mills. Although Mills didn't get far in the race, it didn't matter. At the time, Perot needed all the friends in Congress he could get, since, only a year earlier, a House subcommittee had begun to look into allegations that E.D.S. had routinely overcharged on government contracts."
These conservative magazine attacks on Perot were brought up during his appearance on "Meet the Press." Without pause, he pointed to the editors of the magazine as the same people who, during the unsuccessful 1992 re-election campaign of President Bush, had also used questionable tactics. Even though Perot didn't say it, many Bush supporters still believe that Ross Perot's candidacy helped elect Bill Clinton to the White House.
Although Ross Perot's appearance on NBC didn't do much to promote himself or the Reform Party, he has plenty of reasons to believe that some GOP politicians are out to get him. This recognition of enemies in the bush is not paranoia but being in touch with political reality. He knows the GOP doesn't want him politically alive when November rolls around.
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