Buchanan Camp Removes Foe From Key Reform Party Panel

By Thomas B. Edsall / Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 9, 2000

Patrick J. Buchanan's campaign has forced the removal of Russell Verney as chairman of the Reform Party's convention credentials committee in an effort to prevent allies of Ross Perot from blocking Buchanan's nomination as the party's presidential candidate.

Verney, who headed the party during the 1996 Perot campaign and was one of the driving forces in the party's founding, "basically decided to spearhead the anti-Buchanan efforts," said Angela "Bay" Buchanan, the candidate's sister and senior adviser. She said that Verney had encouraged as many as 25 challenges from state delegations to the August convention in a tactic designed to turn the nominating process into "chaos."

The credentials committee has a crucial role in the balance of power in the Reform Party. It decides challenges to individual delegates and whole state delegations to the convention. The actual vote for a presidential nominee is being conducted by mail and on the Internet, but the convention will determine the legitimacy of that vote.

Buchanan, a social conservative, has emerged as the clear leader in the contest for the nomination and the $12.6 million in federal money that will accompany it. His one challenger is John Hagelin, who is also associated with the Natural Law Party.

As state parties have met leading up to the national convention next month, Buchanan and his allies have been taking control of the state organizations. In many cases, they have ousted Perot backers, including in Texas, Perot's home state. These insurgencies have infuriated Perot allies, who have been
seeking ways to block Buchanan from both the nomination and taking over the party structure.

Jim Mangia, the party's national secretary, denounced the Buchanan efforts as "Brown-shirt bully tactics," referring to Nazi storm troopers. Mangia said the executive committee plans to meet to effectively overturn the Buchanan takeover of the credentials committee by ordering the addition of new members who back Hagelin in equal numbers to the Buchanan supporters on the panel. Both sides now say six of the 11 members back Buchanan; the other five are allied with the old Perot forces.

In turn, the Buchanan forces hope to weaken their opponents' strength on the executive committee by recalling Paul Truax, who backs Perot and not Buchanan, as soon as tonight. Buchanan supporters also may recall another anti-Buchanan member of the panel, LuAnn Stone, next week.

Faced with these challenges, the Buchanan campaign has amassed enough support among members of the party's national committee to require a meeting on Aug. 8 in Long Beach, Calif., two days before the start of the convention. If, as expected, the Buchanan delegates constitute a majority, they will be able to take over all key party offices before the proceedings begin, protecting Buchanan from any procedural challenge at the convention.