Turmoil Is Taking Toll, Reform Party Official Says

As he talks Reform Party politics, Michael Farris deflates like a leaky balloon.

He glumly ponders party heavyweights like Pat Buchanan, Jesse Ventura and John Hagelin--a physicist who says he can run the country by harnessing the laws of nature--and wonders where it all went wrong.

The Newbury Park resident, who is chairman of the party’s nominating panel, was once a true believer. He was among millions who fell under the spell of Reform Party founder Ross Perot when he burst onto the scene in 1992, vowing to clean up politics, balance the budget and protect American jobs.

Farris jumped right in, helping to found Reform Party chapters in Thousand Oaks and West Los Angeles. He also headed the state party for two years and sat on the national executive committee.

“I felt I could be a part of something,” he said wistfully. “I didn’t get involved in this to play minor party politics.”

Now the 31-year-old who once ran for state Assembly is thinking of leaving the party after its Long Beach convention, which begins Thursday.

The party is in turmoil, and the candidates leave him uninspired.

He says that Buchanan is far too conservative and that Hagelin, a former professor at Maharishi University, is not considered a serious candidate.

Even the party’s one success, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, doesn’t excite him.

“It’s unfortunate he continues to focus on himself instead of leading the party,” he said.

Farris, a former Republican, laments that there is not a “tier one” candidate like a Sam Nunn, Gary Hart or John McCain.

“They are repelled by the uncertainty,” he said. “Entrepreneurship is not rewarded in politics.”

In his role as chairman of the nominating panel, Farris makes sure rules of the process are followed.

“It’s starting to be such a big deal that I can’t even stop to reflect on it,” he said.

The phone rings constantly.

The press asks if Texas billionaire Perot will appear on the ballot, Buchanan partisans want to monitor the vote count, and Hagelin’s supporters suspect unfairness at every turn.

“Hagelin’s people are very nice and nonconfrontational, while Buchanan’s are confrontational with a capital C,” Farris said.

Buchanan’s candidacy is shrouded in uncertainty. The Reform Party’s Executive Committee accused him last month of submitting 500,000 invalid names on petitions and voted to keep him off the ballot. That decision, Farris said, is likely to be overturned this week by the party’s national committee.

“A zoo is a kind way of describing the situation,” Farris sighed. “It’s going to be a wild and woolly convention.”

The Reform Party’s slide from its heyday of Perot-mania to its current collection of candidates is not unusual, said Robert Dallek.

Dallek, a history professor at Boston University and author of numerous books on American politics, said the Reform Party is likely to disappear after this year.

“This is typical of reform parties. They have their moments, seize them, then fade away,” he said. “Buchanan will probably win the nomination. He’ll get 4% or 5% of the vote and that will kill off the Reform Party.”

The party has not been inconsequential, he said. After all, many people believe that Perot voters robbed Bush of crucial votes, which helped elect Bill Clinton.

“There will always be another reform party,” Dallek said. “That is the nature of American politics.”

According to Farris, there are 85,000 Reform Party members in the state.

Farris believes that the Republicans or Democrats eventually will pick up the reform mantle. As for the Reform Party itself, he worries that it will be doomed to the fringes of the political debate.

“We failed in our mission to get candidates elected and in reforming politics,” he said. “We had a great opportunity this time. Gore and Bush were hardly energizing candidates.”