Bentsen Contends Economy Would Fare Better Under Democrats

Sen. Lloyd Bentsen on Tuesday took his political sales campaign to a forum typically friendlier to Republicans, arguing before a skeptical business organization here that the economy would fare better under the Democrats.

The Democratic vice presidential nominee told the Economic Club of Detroit that Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis offers business a “creative partnership,” but also noted pointedly: “We don’t want to get in the way.”

Bentsen hopes that his conservative record and stature as Senate Finance Committee chairman will help make the Democratic ticket more palatable to a mistrustful business community, and dispel the party’s image among some businessmen as the promoter of big government.

“I’m a businessman who came to the Senate so I can empathize, I think, with their concerns. I know the problems they face,” Bentsen told reporters after the speech.

Despite the personal rapport Bentsen has with business leaders, his ability to sell his message is limited by his position as the No. 2 man on the ticket. Indeed, the first question he received from the Economic Club audience reflected that problem: “With your voting record, should you not be on the Republican ticket?”

‘I Don’t Agree’

The Texas senator laughed, and replied: “I don’t agree. I don’t agree at all.”

“We try to reach out to the center, and we’re trying to encourage a lot of Democrats who voted for Reagan to come home. We’ve got a place for them,” he said.

Bentsen’s speech, his most detailed economic address to date, was aimed at business leaders in a city whose industries, particularly auto making, have been hard hit by foreign competition during the Reagan years.

While the Reagan Administration has painted “a landscape of prosperity,” Bentsen noted, the picture is “also marked by mountains of debt and a dangerous fault line of uneven performance.”

Bentsen sought to portray Dukakis as more fiscally conservative than President Reagan. “The first priority of a Dukakis-Bentsen Administration will be to reduce budget deficits,” Bentsen said. “Mike Dukakis has proven he’s up to that kind of challenge. He has balanced nine budgets in nine years in Massachusetts, and submitted his 10th, while this Administration has never submitted a single balanced budget to Congress.”

Balanced Budget Required

Massachusetts’ constitution, like those of many other states, requires a balanced budget.

Bentsen, one of the principal forces behind trade legislation signed last August by President Reagan, accused the Administration of not being vigorous enough in defending U.S. industry from a tide of foreign imports.

“For too long trade in this country has been a handmaiden of American foreign policy and international economic policy, and we always find an excuse to cave in on trade,” Bentsen said. “Rather than fight for the right to equal access, this Administration has blamed American industry for not trying hard enough.”

He warned that the United States will face even tougher competition when European countries move in 1992 to present a unified force on the world market.

“We want to help (U.S. businesses compete) . . . but we don’t want to get in the way. We want to help by tearing down illegal trade barriers and practices like dumping” foreign products on U.S. markets at below-cost prices, Bentsen said.

“In a Dukakis-Bentsen Administration, Washington will help where we can help--where we’re needed,” Bentsen said.