Volunteers for Perot Keep the Faith or Quit the Scene

In Bentonville, Ark., they passed a hat and collected $300 to keep their movement going. But in Michigan, Ross Perot’s people are locking the doors and going home.

Across the country, some die-hard supporters are vowing to keep Perot’s political uprising alive. But many disgruntled volunteers are closing down, leaving phones unanswered and packing what’s left of the aborted campaign into car trunks and private offices.

In Dover, Del., Kent County coordinator Larry Feldman said, “We weren’t looking to join an army. We were looking to get one man elected and that’s Ross Perot.”

“I terminated personally the Perot Campaign Committee and most of the offices are closing,” said Judy Werner, the chairwoman of the Perot campaign in Michigan. She had played host for the candidate at a rally just six days before he suddenly announced last Thursday that he would not run for President.

Rented computers have been returned in Richmond, Va., where volunteers plan to meet today to dissolve Virginians for Perot. Only three people staffed the mostly silent phones in Little Rock, Ark.

Still, supporters in several states said Perot has paid their rent through the end of the month and they hope to work with him to influence the November election.

North Dakota is down to only one phone line, “but there’s people out there who want to keep the movement alive,” a tired-sounding Jim Kisse said.

In Oklahoma City, contributions are being taken to cover rent. “Some way, somehow, we’ll at least have a phone,” said Jamie Hurst.

Steve Fridrich has already moved what’s left of the Perot Tennessee operation into his real estate office, where one volunteer will try to hold on. Charlie Hellebusch, a hospital consultant who is Perot’s Kentucky state coordinator, is out looking for smaller office quarters.

Oregon organizers planned a survey to see if backers still want to push Perot’s political agenda. Perot is still not on the ballot in Oregon, and campaign director Richard Kidd said supporters may just drop petitions with 150,000 signatures and plans for a state nominating convention.

“We built an organization in Oregon that I was convinced could run and win,” Kidd said. “I have asked people to put their trust in me, and now I am saying, ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go.’ ”

The Perot Petition Committee of Georgia was seeking a new name--and candidate.

“The majority of us feel like we were lied to and duped and that a man that we felt had a lot of honesty and integrity has none,” said volunteer Lucie P. Branham in Atlanta. “That would be the kindest way to put it.”