June 9,2000 PHILADELPHIA (AP)

Buchanan defends Delaware chairman
-- Reform Party presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan is defending the Delaware party chairman, a Buchanan supporter who urged the removal of the party's national secretary in a crude e-mail attack.

Buchanan, interviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer two days before the party's Pennsylvania Convention, gave an optimistic assessment of his chances as a candidate in November and shrugged off dissidents' complaints about him.

"All this talk about social issues is basically a smoke screen," he said. "What it is, really, is that our folks are moving into positions of leadership and influence within the party, and in some cases displacing the ones who were there. This is the coming of the new guard and the passing of
the old."

One of those Buchanan supporters is Delaware Reform Party Chairman William Shields, who sent a May 31 e-mail to party members looking for support against national party Secretary Jim Mangia, a leader of the anti-Buchanan faction.

"I am interested in a resolution at the convention to remove Jim Mangia from any leadership role in this party, and to physically eject him, along with any trash or dangerous biological waste that may have found its way onto the convention floor," Shields wrote.

Shields went on to accuse Mangia of trying to sabotage the party.

"As our party is being purged of some cancerous infections, the surgery is proving somewhat painful. However the postoperative prognosis is good, as we will walk forward into the future, free of these debilitating parasites," he wrote.

Mangia, who is gay, told the Inquirer he was personally offended by the reference to biological waste.

"This party is supposed to have Americans from diverse backgrounds," he said.

But Buchanan defended Shields as "a good man" and offered a football analogy:

"Mr. Mangia had called me a liar and a cheat, so our guy made a statement about him," Buchanan said. "I look upon all this as a face-mask violation, followed by a personal foul. In other words, offsetting penalties."

Mangia, who accused Buchanan supporters of "brown-shirt bully tactics" in the party's recent California convention, described his move toward the Reform Party nomination this way:

"The way Buchanan has operated, it's like if you invited someone into your house, then he eats your food and tries to throw you out. It's bad manners."

Looking beyond the Reform Party's August national convention in Long Beach, Calif., Buchanan said he was prepared to sue in federal court, to be included in fall campaign debates between the Republican and Democratic nominees.

He also described how he expects to take votes away from Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the apparent Republican nominee.

"Bush will write off most of New England, New York, and probably California," Buchanan predicted. "So that's all good territory for me.

"I can go in and say, 'Look, Bush won't be putting in a dime here, and he's not running an authentic conservative campaign anyway. So rather than waste a losing vote for Bush, vote for me.' Plus, I can do well in pro-Bush states that have a lot of conservatives," he said.

Buchanan acknowledged that he had been marked by political controversy.

"I wear those scars as badges of honor," he said.

As for his campaign this year, he said: "I have never had so much fun in my life."