Gerald Ford Assails Bank Regulations : Banking: Ex-President says paperwork, increased costs of supervision have crippled some institutions, especially the smaller ones. He says a new Congress could ease the strain.

Former President Gerald R. Ford, trying to shore up a traditional GOP stronghold, told a group of community bankers Tuesday that he hopes a new Congress will ease the regulatory burdens on banks.

Ford, stumping for George Bush in his battle with Democratic challenger Bill Clinton for the nation’s highest office, said bankers need to “get relief” for the heavy cost that increased regulation has put on financial institutions.

In the last year, federal laws have led regulators to scrutinize banks and thrifts so closely that the regulators are, in effect, managing the institutions. Paperwork alone is crippling smaller institutions, industry leaders have complained.

Ford, speaking to about 120 members of the Independent Bankers Assn. of America, placed part of the blame for burdensome banking laws on burgeoning congressional staffs and their penchant for making work.

“When I first went to Congress (in 1949), each member could have three employees,” said the onetime representative from Grand Rapids, Mich. “Now each member can have 22 employees.”

In echoing a Republican theme, Ford told the bankers at a breakfast meeting during the association’s western regional convention that he won’t vote for any congressional candidate who won’t vow to cut 25% of his or her staff.

Speaking at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, Ford also said a hostile voter environment and a surging Ross Perot candidacy make this year’s presidential election one of the most difficult ones in memory. “I have never seen such an angry, ugly electorate across the board,” he said.

Ford said the angry mood is reflected both in the anticipated big shift in congressional seats and in the 14 additional states that have ballot issues limiting the terms of elected officials. Two states, including California, already have laws limiting the terms of people elected to state offices.

He said the 435-seat House of Representatives could have its biggest change in history if up to 200 seats go to challengers. As it is, he predicted, there will be at least 150 new congressional members.

“It’s a tough political atmosphere this year,” he said.

Perot, he said, will not likely carry any state, but he can play the role of the spoiler.

“The question is, whose election is he going to spoil,” Ford said. “That’s hard to tell now. He’ll hurt Bush in some states, and he’ll hurt Clinton in some states.”

Later, bankers wrestled with the prospect of a new Congress, trying to figure out whether new blood would help them or hurt them. Most seemed to agree with the banking association’s chief lobbyist Gary Kohn.

“It can’t be any worse than it is already,” Kohn said. “Some of the new people, at least, should have open minds and be willing to listen to us.”