North Suggests at GOP Fund-Raiser That Kadafi Endorses Dukakis

During a rousing partisan speech to raise money for a Thousand Oaks Republican lawmaker as well as his own legal defense, Oliver L. North suggested Thursday that Michael S. Dukakis has been endorsed by Libyan leader Col. Moammar Kadafi

“We need to make sure we don’t have a president who’s been endorsed by Moammar Kadafi,” North told a sellout crowd of about 550 cheering GOP stalwarts at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza in Westlake Village.

The comment brought a sharp rejoinder from the Dukakis campaign.

“It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” Mark Gearan, Dukakis’ press secretary, said in a telephone interview. “Gov. Dukakis’ position on terrorism is quite clear: no concessions, unlike this administration, which trades arms for hostages and dealt with the Ayatollah and other such world leaders.”

Kadafi Interview

North was apparently referring to a United Press International story on Sept. 5 based on an interview with Kadafi in the Tunis newspaper La Presse. The story said Kadafi “hinted that he preferred the Democratic candidate,” though he would not say his name.

North, awaiting trial on conspiracy charges stemming from the Iran-Contra affair, declined to answer questions Thursday, reportedly on the advice of his attorneys. He was whisked away by a retinue of private security guards after his 25-minute address.

Although North did not mention Dukakis by name, Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), who sponsored the event, said he understood North was talking about the Democratic nominee when he referred to the Kadafi endorsement. “That was my sense,” he said.

North’s appearance in bedrock Republican Ventura County aroused a mini-revival of “Olliemania,” which briefly swept the nation during last year’s Iran-Contra hearings, as well as some strong critical reactions outside the hotel.

Patrons, who each paid $125 to hear North, greeted him with three standing ovations and stood in line for up to an hour to have their pictures taken beside him. McClintock, an outspoken conservative whose last campaign speaker was defeated Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, compared North to Paul Revere and urged him to consider running for the U.S. Senate in California in four years when Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston’s term expires.

“This is the most incredible event we’ve had in five years,” one veteran McClintock supporter said. “Screw the liberals.”

North, whose speaking fee is generally $25,000, agreed to accept 20% of the gross, or $14,500, from the event for his legal defense fund. “North Defense Trust” brochures, advertising “a unique opportunity to join forces with a unique man,” were placed on each table. The remaining net proceeds will go to McClintock’s reelection campaign coffers.

Not everyone who turned out was supportive. Scores of protesters, many carrying signs, picketed the event. Some wore white blindfolds, symbolizing hostages still held in the Middle East.

“Lying is not honorable,” one placard said. “Ollie is no hero!” another said. A third urged: “Constitution Yes, Ollie No.”

Attorney George Webb II, a Moorpark Democrat who is opposing McClintock this November, was among the picketers.

“To a certain extent, Oliver North shouldn’t be considered a hero,” Webb said. “What he did was wrong. He has a right to speak out. But he should have done that a couple of years ago and made his case to the American people to convince them that Congress was wrong rather than going to the Ayatollah.”

Meanwhile, attorney Don Stevens, a Westlake Village Democrat who is challenging Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) in the 21st District, issued a news release calling for the death penalty for individuals who do some of the things North allegedly did. He said, however, that he would not make such a law retroactive to apply to North.

Stevens said he favors executing those who, “with the intent to obstruct justice, destroy or conspire to destroy government documents involving matters of national security after the President of the United States has ordered an official investigation into such matters.”

North, a former White House aide fired in 1986 for his role in diverting Iran arms-sale profits to Nicaragua’s Contras, has said his actions were approved by top administration officials. His trial has been postponed indefinitely.

North said he has spoken in 37 cities in 26 states in recent months. He was credited with helping ex-White House speech writer Dana Rohrabacher raise $80,000, gain free media exposure and beat seven other candidates in a congressional GOP primary in Orange County in June.

North called upon the audience to work hard to elect George Bush and give Republicans control of the state Legislature and Congress. He also took shots at the news media and Washington, D.C.

Describing America as “a nation at risk in a dangerous world,” he said, “We’ve got to send better people to that sad city on the Potomac.” But most important, he said, Bush must reach the White House to follow in President Reagan’s footsteps “on the course of opportunity and freedom and peace.”

The alternative if Dukakis is elected, he suggested, is a return to the “failed liberal philosophy” of the 1970s when “taxes were up and our defenses were down” and permissiveness led to moral decay and rampant drug abuse.

“I guess he’s been spending too much time in court and not enough learning about Gov. Dukakis,” Gearan, Dukakis’ spokesman, said.