President, in Miss., Takes Tough Stand on Business Fraud

President Bush came here Wednesday to express his sympathy for the thousands of Mississippians who lost their jobs and their savings because of WorldCom Inc., the telecommunications giant headquartered nearby that filed for bankruptcy last month amid accusations that its executives defrauded investors.

“You know what it means to be let down by shady corporate practices,” he told 1,000 flag-waving, foot-stamping people packed to the rafters in a sweltering high school gym.

As he vigorously denounced “corporate malfeasance,” Bush also reiterated his desire to see dishonest executives do “hard time” for “cooking the books.”

In a brief visit to a region of the country known for its multimillion-dollar jury awards in personal injury cases, the president also inveighed against “junk and frivolous” lawsuits, saying that they threaten the well-being of the national economy.

Bush’s late-morning remarks here overlapped a speech in San Francisco by Vice President Dick Cheney. The split-screen juxtaposition served as a fresh reminder that the rash of corporate scandals continues to cast a cloud over the Bush administration, with lingering questions dogging both the president and the vice president over their own business practices before taking office.

In his remarks, Bush sought to redirect the debate as he focused on corporate reform and issued an animated call on Congress to impose limits on medical malpractice reform.

“People who dedicate their lives to building the company who hired them deserve better--not only here in Mississippi but all over the country,” the president said.

In calling for federal limits on malpractice suits, he declared: “Too many frivolous lawsuits in this state are being filed against doctors.... And too many juries’ awards are out of control.”

Before his speech, Bush met privately with 10 area residents, including doctors, nurses and one laid-off WorldCom employee.

Bush reported afterward that they are “disillusioned, like me and others, about the corporate fraud which is taking place in our country.”

Before returning to his ranch near Waco, Texas, the president spoke at a $1-million Republican fund-raiser, with the proceeds divided evenly between Rep. Charles W. “Chip” Pickering (R-Miss.) and the state GOP.

Pickering’s reelection bid is noteworthy on several counts.

Because Mississippi lost a House seat in reapportionment after the 2000 census, Pickering faces another House incumbent, Democrat Ronnie Shows.

It has become a bellwether race--and a test of the Democratic Party’s broad-brushed effort to tie Republicans, including Bush and Cheney, to the corporate scandals.

A victory by Shows could provide Al Gore with a new sense of vindication for his controversial 2000 campaign message of “the people versus the powerful.”

Shows’ campaign mantras have included “Jobs, greed and trade” and “Little guy versus big guy.”

Shows’ campaign believes that such themes have a special resonance here because of WorldCom, whose two top executives, accused of hiding billions of dollars in expenses and lying to investors, have been charged with securities fraud, conspiracy and filing false statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pickering, an ex-legislative director for Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), is the son of a federal judge Bush nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

That nomination was defeated in a straight party-line vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee in March after he was strongly criticized by women’s, civil rights and liberal organizations.