Organizers Laying the Groundwork for Perot : Campaign: Disaffection with the status quo generates support for the maverick Texan. Some backers in the county are unsure of his stands on the issues.

In 1969, Virginia Nasmyth Loy and her family were desperately trying to win release for her brother, Spike, a prisoner of war held captive at the infamous Hanoi Hilton.

Nearly a quarter-century later, the 41-year-old Ojai woman is showing her gratitude to the man she credits with publicizing the plight of her brother and other POWs, Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot. At the height of the war, Perot flew to Vietnam in an unsuccessful bid to deliver Christmas CARE packages to the prisoners.

“He is brilliant, he is down to Earth and most importantly, he is not a professional politician,” Loy said. “He’s been my No. 1 choice for President for 20 years.”

Like scores of others in Ventura County, Loy has joined a growing movement to vault the folksy Texan into the White House.

About three dozen supporters gathered at an Oxnard hotel last week to organize petition drives to qualify Perot as an independent candidate on the California ballot in November.

Nearly 200 Ventura County residents have called a toll-free number in Perot’s hometown of Dallas offering to help elect the man they view as a potential savior of a doomed economy, a man they describe variously as courageous, honest, innovative, fair and “something refreshing and so needed.”

“I find him fascinating,” said Patricia Gibson, a travel agent from Port Hueneme who plans to gather signatures when the petition period opens April 24. “He appears to be a man of integrity with old-fashioned ideas that I think would go a long way in getting us back on track.”

The legions are assembling from across the political spectrum, from a self-described liberal Democrat who builds low-cost housing in Africa to a former member of the ultraconservative John Birch Society, who said he is willing to look past Perot’s pro-choice and pro-gun-control positions to elect a strong leader.

“He appeals to so many people right now because, whether Democrat or Republican, most of us see that the issues are not being addressed and we’re tired of the muckraking and mudslinging,” said Bob Hayden, a Ventura civil engineer who is state coordinator of the Perot Petition Committee. “Forty percent of the people walking away from the primary polling booths (around the country) are saying they don’t like who they voted for.”

Hayden has been leading the statewide effort from his east Ventura home while awaiting the opening of the committee’s headquarters in Los Angeles. Local organizers expect to open a Ventura office this week.

The committee will need to collect 134,781 signatures, or 1% of the state’s registered voters, between April 24 and Aug. 7. Organizers expect to get at least 15,000 signatures in Ventura County.

If Perot does make the ballot, his supporters seem to think that he could win the presidency. After all, Perot turned a $1,000 loan into a $2.5-billion high-tech company that he sold to General Motors.

So disenchanted are Perot supporters with the apparent choices in November that many are lining up behind him without a clue as to his stand on the issues or what he might do once he takes the helm. It is Perot’s speechifying and good-humored sagacity that have attracted many to the fold.

“I worked with Ross Perot at IBM in 1957, and the man I see on TV is the same guy,” said one supporter at last week’s organizational meeting. “Frankly, I don’t know how he stands on a lot of things, but if anyone should have a forum for his ideas, he’s the man.”

Even Hayden said he has no idea what Perot’s platform may be. But his main interest right now is getting Perot onto the ballot.

“I’m sure Ross and I will end up disagreeing on some key issues,” said Hayden, a 38-year-old Arkansas native. “But I’ve been sitting on my duff for too long. It’s time to take action to address real issues for a change.”

But in promoting a candidate that they say is “not a Madison Avenue creation,” Perot’s supporters are also backing someone who is approaching the nation’s highest office with an almost casual air.

Perot, 61, said he will run for President if ordinary people succeed in getting his name on the ballot in all 50 states. Only then would he take up the gauntlet, vowing to spend up to $100 million on his campaign.

“If we get the petitions signed, get him on the ballot in 50 states, he’ll tell us where he stands,” said Sully Sullivan, 59, of Thousand Oaks, whose previous petition experience entailed gathering 600 signatures for a successful 1990 initiative banning gill nets. “I know we’ll get a lot straighter answers from him than we’re likely to get from any of the other candidates.”

While Perot may yet be an enigma, Jim McConica of Ventura has seen enough of him on television to believe that he is the best candidate.

“He wasn’t talking about just solving the current budget deficit, but also trying to solve the national debt, and that’s something no one is talking about,” said McConica, 41, owner of a Ventura car dealership.

“He really seems like an individual to get the job done,” McConica said. “He’s got no financial ties to anyone. If he goes into office, he’ll have no debts to repay.”

Loy, whose brother was freed in 1973 after seven years in captivity, had met Perot four years earlier. Perot contacted her family and told them to bring provisions for Spike Nasmyth to the Flying Tigers hangar at Los Angeles International Airport.

“He felt the government wasn’t doing enough about American prisoners of war,” said Loy, who was 17 at the time.

“He was a man of action. In the end, he was not successful in delivering the packages, but he brought their plight international coverage.”

Loy was named the committee’s Ojai Valley coordinator Wednesday.

The following morning, she encouraged Sandy and Jim Hannington to open one of the first Perot for President offices in California in their Ojai print shop.

“We’ll have the California signatures within a week,” Loy predicted. “The tough thing is waiting until April 24 to get started.”