Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Perot: Dirty tricks fit GOP's pattern Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 15:33:28 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \HD Perot: Dirty tricks fit GOP's pattern \BY Major Garrett \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Ross Perot repeated his charges of dirty tricks by the Bush-Quayle campaign last night, only hours after his top aides said they wanted to bury the story and focus on other issues. While saying he accepted the Bush-Quayle campaign's denials, Mr. Perot again left the impression he believes they plotted to disrupt his daughter's wedding and to tap the phones of his Dallas office. "Is it thinkable that these wonderful people in the Republican Party might do that?" Mr. Perot asked during an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live." "This is the same party that gave us Watergate. This is the same party that gave us Iran-Contra. This is the same party that's up to its ears in Iraqgate now. So there's a pattern here." In Dallas yesterday senior aide Sharon Holman and campaign legal counsel Clayton Mulford, Mr. Perot's son-in-law, said the campaign would take no further questions on the dirty-tricks allegations, which Mr. Perot has not proved. "We think it's irrelevant to the election," Mr. Mulford said. "We feel if we get focused back on the issues and the change that's needed in America, that we will retake the upward tick." Mr. Perot said President Bush was sure to lose the election, and he tried to woo Bush supporters. "He's history," the independent presidential candidate said. "The people who are voting for him are throwing their votes away." The Texan told undecided voters to consider which candidate has the character to be president. "Ask yourself would you want this person as a next-door neighbor," Mr. Perot said. "Ask yourself, 'Is this guy telling me the truth?' " But seven former Perot volunteers yesterday accused Mr. Perot of authorizing illegal credit checks on them, actions they said raise serious questions about the Texan's character. The Perot campaign has said checks were made on those who handled campaign money, but four of the seven volunteers said they did not handle any money. "It conjures up images of secret police in the Soviet Union. It conjures up images of the Gestapo, of a dictatorship," said Cliff Arnebeck, a lawyer and former Perot spokesman in Columbus, Ohio. The Perot campaign has acknowledged investigating some volunteers to see if they mishandled funds in the early stages of the petition drive, when money was changing hands rapidly. Mr. Mulford has said no laws were broken. Only three of the seven volunteers at a news conference yesterday said they handled Perot donations. They said almost all of the money was their own and that they were never reimbursed by Mr. Perot. Mr. Arnebeck and the others said their credit records were inspected without their knowledge. They said the checks were run by private investigators hired by Mr. Perot or by computer hackers in the Perot campaign. While they could not positively link Mr. Perot's campaign to the credit checks, they said there is enough circumstantial evidence to level their charges publicly. More than 30 Perot supporters gathered at the hotel to denounce the charges. "I don't know about these allegations," said Joan Vinson, the Maryland coordinator for Perot '92. "This is [the accusers'] five minutes of fame." The charges deal with unauthorized credit checks run by O'Connell & Associates of Smithtown, N.Y., Callahan & Associates of San Anselmo, Calif., and Orix Leasing Co. of Portland, Ore., which leases office equipment. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM