Democrats Call for National Renewal, Rip Bush, Perot : Convention: ‘Honey . . . the party’s over,’ Gov. Richards tells the White House. Attack on Perot as an autocrat breaks an unofficial silence on the Texan.

With ringing calls for national change and slashing attacks on both President Bush and independent Ross Perot, Democrats opened their 1992 convention here Monday determined to drive home their contention that 12 years of Republican rule have left the nation economically weak and socially divided.

From Texas Gov. Ann Richards, the convention chairwoman, to Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, former Rep. Barbara Jordan of Texas and Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, who joined in delivering the convention’s keynote addresses, the Democrats issued a carefully orchestrated call for national renewal and new leadership under Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and his running mate, Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee.

“We’re tired of being lied to, tired of politicians who promise anything to get elected and then do anything but what they promised,” Richards declared. “We’re tired of the ‘80s; they’re over. We’re tired of hearing about the Reagan era; it’s over.

“And as far as the White House is concerned,” the sharp-tongued governor told cheering delegates, “honey, you can turn out the lights because the party’s over.”

Party leaders lambasted Bush for presiding over “the slowest rate of economic growth since the Great Depression,” and labeled Perot an autocrat who “says he’s an outsider who will shake up the system in Washington” but in reality has “been shaking down the system.”

While the attacks on Bush were not surprising, the blast at Perot--contained in Miller’s speech--broke an unofficial Democratic silence on the Texas billionaire who is moving closer to announcing as an independent candidate for President, according to a senior campaign official who reported that the Texan has now qualified for ballot position in 30 states and probably will announce the choice of his vice presidential running mate before the Republican convention in Houston next month.

Until Miller’s comments, Clinton--whom the party will nominate as its presidential standard-bearer Wednesday night--had been content to stand on the sidelines while Bush and the Texan engaged in a series of attacks that appeared to weaken them and strengthen him in public opinion polls.

Miller said that as far back as 1974 Perot was lobbying Congress for tax breaks and “tried to turn $55,000 in contributions into a special $15-million tax loophole that was tailor-made for him.”

“Sounds to me like, instead of shaking the system up, Mr. Perot’s been shaking it down,” said Miller, who attacked former Sen. Paul E. Tsongas on Clinton’s behalf during the Democratic primaries. “Ross says he’ll clean out the barn but he’s been knee deep in it for years.

“If Ross Perot’s an outsider, folks, I’m from Brooklyn. Mr. Perot’s giving us salesmanship, not leadership . . . so the choice is clear: we’ve got us a race between an aristocrat, an autocrat and a Democrat,” Miller said.

For the most part Perot and his campaign aides have concentrated their fire on Bush and ignored the Clinton campaign but Miller’s charges brought a quick, if relatively restrained response from Tom Luce, the billionaire’s long-time associate and top campaign official.

“Considering what the conventions are costing the American people, time on prime-time television might be better used to discuss the serious economic problems facing the country,” Luce declared. “By attacking Ross Perot at taxpayer expense, the Democrats are simply taking a page from the Republican book on how to run presidential campaigns. Once again it proves there is very little difference in the way they approach things.”

And in Madison Square Garden Monday night, it was clear that not all the jabs at Clinton would come from outside the Democratic tent. Not only did civil rights leader Jesse Jackson continue to give the Clinton-Gore ticket only tepid support but backers of former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who fought Clinton hard in the primaries, quickly demonstrated their willingness to jostle the bandwagon.

The opening session had scarcely started when about 100 Brown delegates began blowing whistles, ringing bells and drowning out the opening speeches with chants of “Let Jerry Speak, Let Jerry Speak.”

“I’ve handed out 300 of these,” said Brown delegate Dietrich Nicholson, pulling at the plastic whistle hanging from a string around his neck. “We’re going to use them when Clinton speaks if they don’t agree to let Jerry speak, too,” warned Dietrich, who lives in Garden Grove.

The trouble on the convention floor started when the Brown delegates arrived in the convention hall to find themselves relegated to the rear rows of the California delegation because the front rows had all been reserved for Clinton supporters.

Sandra Lee Nadim, from Palo Alto, objected and began pulling the Clinton name tags off the reserved seats. “This is not right!” she shouted. “We’ve been standing in line for hours. It’s first come, first served!”

Clinton supporters objected that the seating arrangements had been negotiated by representatives from both delegations and said that they were just taking their assigned seats, which were supposed to have been arranged by congressional district. But the argument got louder and louder, distracting attention on the floor, as Nadim began ripping the labels off the seats around her to chants of “Take It Off, Take It Off” from her fellow Brown delegates.

Clinton campaign workers finally swarmed the unruly California delegation floor with huge plastic bags full of red, white and blue Clinton signs, which were swiftly distributed, and the disturbance subsided.

But it was clear that Brown and his supporters, who consider Clinton too centrist on most issues, are not prepared to fade away quietly.

The Democrats, with delegates about evenly divided between men and women, used the convention’s opening night as a showcase for their bumper crop of women candidates. Five of their six female candidates for the Senate were on the podium to deliver stirring speeches about how they hope to break into what has traditionally been virtually an all-male institution.

“I grew up believing that the U. S. Senate was a place where the American dream was protected and enhanced,” declared Rep. Barbara Boxer of Greenbrae, Calif., who is seeking one of the two vacant Senate seats in California. “I believe the women who are running for the Senate will carry the dream with them. We will crack open the closed doors of the Senate, open them wide and start running a country--not a country club.”

California’s other Democratic Senate nominee, former San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein, declared that with the right leadership, “we can overcome America’s problems, change course, put people first and once again take America in the right direction. Nineteen -ninety-two isn’t just the Year of the Woman. It’s the Year of the People.”

Lynn Yaekel, a political newcomer who is leading Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania in the polls, declared that she entered the race because she could not stand by while Specter, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee during hearings on Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court, “humiliated American women with his shameless attack on Anita Hill.”

The Democratic nominee in Illinois, Carol Moseley Braun, who would become the first black woman senator if elected to an open seat in November, declared: “I believe that the dream of America lives when every girl or boy, no matter what race or color or condition, has the opportunity and the freedom to give their best to America.

“This country is challenged to recognize that in our diversity is our strength. Quality and excellence have many faces, many voices,” she said.

Keynote speaker Barbara Jordan, a University of Texas professor who electrified the Democrats with a keynote speech for Jimmy Carter in 1976, called the party the instrument of change and said of the role of women: “The 20th Century will not close without our presence being keenly felt.”

Bradley, the third keynoter, declared that for too long American leadership has “waffled and wiggled and wavered.”

Addressing his remarks to President Bush, Bradley said: “Tonight in America, wages are flat, unemployment is up, the deficit grows and health care and college costs skyrocket. What did you do about it, George Bush? You waffled and wiggled and wavered.”

He accused Bush of the same response to the recent international environmental conference in Rio de Janiero and to the issue of aid to Russia, adding:

“This spring the city of Los Angeles burned. And when it came time to confront the desperation and anger that boiled over into sickening violence--time to provide help for the people in our cities--what did you do about it, George Bush? You waffled and wiggled and wavered.”

For a second day, Clinton spent most of his time in his hotel suite--making telephone calls and working on his Thursday night acceptance speech.

After a morning jog with a close friend and several Secret Service agents, Clinton traveled to Manhattan’s Lower East Side to meet with people at one of the city’s oldest settlement houses. While there, Clinton met with mothers at a homeless shelter and teen-agers involved in a program that recruits neighborhood youngsters to work on environmental cleanup programs.

While talking with teen-agers participating in an arts program, Clinton said that he understands the anger behind the songs of rap singer Sister Souljah. “She obviously believes that the system values white people’s lives over blacks’,” he said. “I think that’s the point she was trying to make.”

Clinton sparked a lengthy controversy with Jesse Jackson when he criticized the singer for making comments that appeared to advocate racial violence against whites. The singer’s comments were “an example of how alienated we are today,” Clinton told teen-agers who asked him about his criticism.

“What we ought to do is find ways to talk to each other across racial lines and not make it worse,” he said. “And I thought those comments made it worse.”

Later, answering questions from several hundred neighborhood residents, Clinton praised the ethnic diversity of the area, home to Asians, Orthodox Jews, blacks and Latinos. “Look at this crowd. This is America,” he said.

Clinton encountered a generally friendly reception but some skepticism. “I want to believe everything you’re saying,” one young man said to him. But, he added, “where are you getting all this money from?”

Clinton responded by listing his proposed defense budget reductions and his plans to increase taxes on those earning more than $200,000 a year. Then he repeated one of the key themes of the message that the Democrats hope their convention will send to American voters.

“The reason you ought to believe me is I’ve worked for 12 years (on the sorts of programs I now talk about,)” Clinton said. “I grew up not in the best circumstances . . . I know what it’s like to not have enough money to get along.

“When I tell you I’m for these things, its because they grow out of my life experience,” he said.

At a mid-morning press briefing Clinton communications director George Stephanopoulos said that former California Jerry Brown would be allowed to speak to the convention regardless of whether he endorses Clinton ahead of time.

“It’s clear that Gov. Brown can speak if he wants to,” Stephanopoulos said, adding that negotiations between the Clinton and Brown camps are continuing. “There’s a lot more that unifies the candidates than divides them,” he insisted, adding that “I think things are moving in the right direction.”

Speaking to reporters later in the day, Brown said “I remain optimistic” about the talks between him and Clinton because “I’m a good Democrat.”

“We believe the party has to include our coalition,” he said, adding that he still wants Clinton to adopt “proposals along the lines of our ‘humility agenda.’ ” But Brown stopped short of saying that Clinton must adopt his entire agenda, something that he had said in the past.

Stephanopoulos also tried to fend off questions about New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo’s recent statements praising Clinton for being willing to raise taxes--a subject that the Clinton camp obviously would prefer not to stress.

Also contributing to this article were Times staff writers Sam Fulwood III, Douglas Jehl, David Lauter, Alan Miller, Michael Ross and D’Jamila Salem.