Hart Appears to Say Rivals Spread Gossip

Democratic presidential contender Gary Hart became embroiled in a tempest on the second day of his presidential campaign Tuesday when he appeared to accuse his rivals for the nomination of spreading gossip about his personal life and then sought to clarify and soften his remarks.

The flap distracted from one of Hart’s key messages Tuesday, that federal revenues will have to be raised to combat the budget deficit. Hart, who formally declared his candidacy Monday, said he is opposed to an income tax increase for middle- and low-income Americans, but he said a combination of an oil import fee, luxury taxes, user fees and perhaps a temporary surtax on Americans in the top income tax bracket would raise a needed $18 billion to $25 billion.

The politically sensitive subject of Hart’s marriage arose Tuesday following recent feature stories in Newsweek and the Washington Post that alluded to Hart’s supposed reputation as a “womanizer” and “lady’s man.” Hart and his wife, Lee, have been separated twice during their 28-year marriage.

She is campaigning by his side, and he introduces her as “the best wife any candidate ever had.” But Hart was asked on his chartered plane en route to Amarillo, Tex., from Denver for a campaign stop whether he feared a flood of similar stories.

According to Laurence I. Barrett, national political correspondent for Time magazine, Hart said: “Sooner or later someone is going to write the story about how this (gossip) is coming out of other campaigns.”

But, when Hart was later asked by other reporters what evidence he had for believing his opponents were spreading gossip about him, he said: “I hope they are not, and I believe they are not.”

He explained that he had meant to say to Barrett only that, if other campaigns were spreading gossip, “that campaign would not succeed because sooner or later that would become the story.”

“My reason for bringing it up,” he continued, “was that other reporters had told me this was the case. I choose to believe they (the campaigns) are not (doing this).”

Earlier in the day, at a press conference in Denver, Hart had tried to stress the importance of issues in the contest for the presidency, declaring this was what voters were most interested in.

“I don’t get all excited about personalities. . . . I think people care about arms control, about toxic waste in their backyards . . . about whether the President can negotiate with Mr. Gorbachev. . . . I think they care about defense. I think they care about how we are going to get our factories going again.”

On the subject of the deficit, Hart criticized President Reagan for his insistence that no taxes be increased.

“I think it is irresponsible to say you can balance the federal budget without additional revenues. I don’t know one serious leader of either political party--and I underline serious--who believes you can,” Hart said. “The question is are they willing, are they brave enough to tell the American people that.”

In a similar vein, in trying to close out the subject of gossip, Hart said: “The question (for the voters) is the future of the country, and who is best prepared to govern.”