Reform Party Heads Into Today’s Convention With Two Heads

The two factions of the Reform Party continued to clash Wednesday, with each side preparing to stage the party’s “official” national convention today, setting up what will undoubtedly be another confrontation between two groups that openly loathe one another.

Supporters of Pat Buchanan and loyalists to party founder Ross Perot have pledged to take the Long Beach Convention Center hall this morning. At stake, besides pride and party control, are millions of dollars in matching federal campaign funds.

“$12.5 million is at stake here. People would kill to get $12.5 million,” said John MacKay, head of the large New York delegation and a backer of Buchanan opponent John Hagelin, a physicist and leader of the Natural Law Party.

Buchanan Camp Claims Two-Thirds of Delegates

The advantage rests with Buchanan, who has the support of party chairman Gerry Moan--the man who controls the checkbooks--and, at least by his campaign’s count, 410 of the nearly 600 convention delegates.

“These little tiffs, these disputes, will be behind us by Sunday,” said Buchanan, who arrived in great spirits at the Westin Hotel. His words to about 100 supporters were greeted with shouts of “Go Pat Go!”

Buchanan, 61, cited the protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago: “This is tame, fellows. This is tame.”

The eve of the convention provided more theater of the absurd, a sequel to Tuesday’s chaotic meeting of leaders that erupted in shouting matches and shoving matches and left the party fractured.

On hand Wednesday: Two party chairmen, two claims to be the “real” Reform Party, two credential committees, dueling press conferences and plenty of hard feelings. By afternoon, though, the two factions were working peacefully side by side but not jointly.

Both groups hold out little hope for reconciliation, predicting two parallel conventions.

What happens this week in Long Beach may foreshadow the future of the Reform Party, which emerged from the coffers of a Texas billionaire to become the most successful third party in decades.

By last October, the party welcomed with open arms Buchanan, a GOP defector who filled the power vacuum created by Perot’s lack of participation. Many of those same party leaders, however, gathered Wednesday at a press conference to denounce Buchanan.

“We are sitting together today to save the Reform Party,” said Jim Mangia, the party secretary and leader of a group of national committee members who bolted from Tuesday’s meeting. “Make no mistake about it--the party is united together against Pat Buchanan.”

The party’s profile has plummeted since Perot’s two runs for the presidency, when he won 8.4% of the national vote in 1996 and 19% in 1992. Buchanan has hovered around 2% in most national polls and his candidacy is not viewed as having a major impact on the race between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore.

Complaints against the well-known social conservative range from accusations of ballot fraud in the primaries to charges that the “Buchanan Brigades” used strong-arm tactics to wrest control from the party’s original backers.

“What is going on is that the Buchanan campaign is more interested in getting Buchanan elected than in a fair and open process, and that’s the antithesis of democracy,” said Chris Attwood, 48, who stood protectively around the splinter group’s credentialing committee table.

Sour grapes, say Buchanan’s people.

They counter that the party of Perot was broken, with little vision or energy before Buchanan’s arrival.

‘We Have Won This Fair and Square’

“The party was only on the ballot in 20 states, and now it’s on in 50 states,” said Robert Bowers, who served as Buchanan’s treasurer during his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination last year.

“There are a few people in the Perot faction who underestimated Buchanan’s support,” Bowers said.

“We have won this fair and square according to their rules,” added Bay Buchanan, the candidate’s sister and campaign manager, rattling off plans for the general election.

With far less funding than the GOP or Democratic candidates, Buchanan plans to use radio and a few local television spots. But the clock is ticking.

If legal wrangling delays the release of the $12.5 million in matching federal funds, his sister said she can keep the campaign going only until Sept. 1.

Buchanan said he has no worries.

“There’s going to be one real convention,” he said. “They can have as many others as they want.”