FEC Ponders Matching Funds For Reform Party

By Brooks Jackson/CNN

WASHINGTON (June 13) -- The immediate question before the Federal Election Commission was whether billionaire Ross Perot should get $30 million in taxpayers' money if he runs for president again.

The answer: A definite maybe. The commission voted 5-0 that because Perot got more than 19 million votes in 1992, he could qualify for public funds this time, as the nominee of the emerging Reform party, or any party.

Perot would get roughly half as much as President Bill Clinton and Republican Bob Dole will get -- nearly $62 million each -- after they are nominated by their parties in August.

But to get public funds, any candidate has to agree not to spend more than $50,000 of his or her own money. Perot spent $60 million last time.

One Democratic commissioner, Scott Thomas, said Perot may already have disqualified himself this time. "Already, he's close to a million dollars in donations to his own campaign, his own authorized committee," Thomas pointed out.

Actually, Perot has spent well more than $1 million to get the Reform party on the ballot. It's not clear, though, whether other commissioners see that as disqualifying Perot for public funds in 1996.

Some ex-supporters of Perot, like Clifford Arnebeck, were disappointed that Perot might get any tax money.

"When Perot ran in '92, he said he was not going to take special interest money, that he was going to fund his own campaign," Arnebeck said. "He's betraying that commitment."

Perot hasn't said if he's running, but former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm is interested. Perot forces had asked the FEC to rule that anyone nominated by the Reform party could get the $30 million in public funds, as well as $6 million to finance a Reform party convention.

The commission said it needed more information to rule on those questions. But in the eyes of some commissioners, it would be tough for anyone but Perot to qualify for public money.

"I cannot conceive of any information that they could furnish us that would let another candidate under the Reform party, as it existed anywhere, get federal funds under our current system," said commission chairwoman Lee Ann Elliott (224K WAV sound).

So, Perot forces were disappointed, too.

"It's a missed opportunity for the American public that the commission didn't respond to those questions today," said Russ Verney, the Reform party's national coordinator (64K WAV sound).

As a practical matter, the commission's action makes clear that anyone the Reform party nominates is going to find it difficult to finance a presidential run, unless that someone is Perot himself.

This story originally appeared on CNN's "Inside Politics."

FEC Ponders Matching Funds For Reform Party

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