June 20, 2000

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Fulani bolts Buchanan camp as Reform convention threatens to become a melee June 19, 2000
Web posted at: 6:30 PM EDT (2230 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Reform Party, once regarded as a way to keep the ages-old two-party system honest, looks to be on the verge of devolving into a chaotic, perhaps highly embarrassing spectacle.

With the party's national convention set for August 10-13 in Long Beach, California, supporters of billionaire and party founder Ross Perot are arming themselves to do battle with the forces of conservative commentator Pat Buchanan -- who abandoned the Republican Party last year to seek the
Reform 2000 presidential nomination.

And if smaller party events this year are any indication of what is in store in Long Beach, the gloves will come off early, the language exchanged will be colorful and the police may have to restore order before it all comes to an end. With observers becoming more worried by the day of a physical confrontation between Buchanan supporters and Perot purists, many within the Reform Party believe the Long Beach event could make or break the party's future.

The party purists have settled on putting John Hagelin up against Buchanan for Reform's presidential nomination. Hagelin, a physicist who is head of the grassroots Natural Law Party, may be in for the tussle of a lifetime. And bringing an abrupt, unexpected end to one of this election year's most
bizarre political alliances -- but adding to the Reform Party's pre-convention intrigue -- liberal activist Lenora Fulani on Sunday severed ties with Buchanan, saying he had willfully abandoned pledges to run an inclusive campaign.

Fulani blasts Buchanan

In a letter announcing her decision, Fulani -- who has worked as Buchanan's co-chair since late last year -- told the one-time Nixon speechwriter she was leaving because Buchanan was doing nothing to include independents and others in his campaign, as she said he had promised. Instead, she wrote,
Buchanan was sticking to a highly conservative platform. "I must and do object to your efforts to transform the party into a party of, and for, only social conservatives," Fulani wrote, adding that she believed Buchanan's refusal -- and that of his sister Bay, the Buchanan campaign manager -- to support her for the party chair's position indicated they had no intention of honoring other viewpoints.

"Supporting me for chair was the test of whether you still intended to broaden your coalition and maintain the party's commitment to left/center/right alliances," Fulani wrote.

"When Pat Buchanan left the Republican Party and joined the Reform Party, he had a wonderful opportunity to provide leadership to [a wide base]," Fulani said on CNN's "Inside Politics" on Monday evening. "But over the last eight months he supported the entrance of the hard-core right-wing
brigades [into the party]," Fulani said.

Fulani, who insists she will stay within the party, accused the Buchanan campaign in her letter of "polarizing" the party, rather than unifying its "disparate forces."

Bay Buchanan, responding Monday, said the Buchanan organization regretted Fulani's departure, but that it was "not in the best interest of the party to support her for chair."

"We have not indicated that we do not welcome people with different views," Buchanan said. "But clearly Pat is not going to walk away from [conservative] issues."

And Pat Buchanan, speaking to CNN late in Monday afternoon, said he thought his decision not to support Fulani for party chair was "decisive."

The split is difficult to characterize, because Buchanan actively courted Fulani's support when he switched to the Reform Party last year. Fulani and Buchanan could not be more opposite in their opinions, but Buchanan won her over with his support of same-day voter registration, political reform,
campaign finance reform and his opposition to some international trade pacts. But her departure may indicate that the Buchanan people are more than convinced that they will wrest control of the party from the Perot faction come mid-August.

The winds of war

In a recent interview with Reuters, Buchanan said he thought he was close to gaining control of the Long Beach convention.

"If you get 400 delegates, and you've got them solidly committed to you on every issue, you can pretty much determine the outcome of the convention," he said. "We're approaching half, getting close to 300. We're in very good shape with delegates, but we're keeping at it."

Buchanan likely will keep at it, because if he takes the Reform nomination, he stands to claim $12.5 million in federal matching funds -- a tidy sum for his run into November.

Speaking to CNN, Buchanan said his campaign had no choice but to "energize" its base, because his people met with strong resistance from many of the Reform Party faithful early on in the process.

"We would go from state to state, and some people would not welcome us and not tell us when meetings were scheduled," he said.

Convention balloting should prove interesting, with Hagelin a relative unknown and the Buchanan people keeping a close eye on the nomination process.Under party rules, a two-thirds majority can overturn the initial ballot result, which will be tabulated from votes cast on site and mail-in ballots. If Buchanan reaches 400 on-site delegates, he could snag the nomination, no matter what the tabulation of the mail-in ballots yields. Those who signed petitions to get the Reform Party on the ballot in each state will be eligible to cast convention ballots by mail.

"There may be a brawl on the convention floor," said Jim Mangia, the Reform Party's national secretary. "It's a real possibility. That's what happens when you let the 'brown shirts' into your party."

Mangia may not be far off. Police had to separate partisans in another Reform feud earlier this year at a party conference in Nashville, Tennessee, where Chairman Jack Gargan was ousted amid vicious exchanges and many near-physical altercations.

"It's clear he's not running for president so much as trying to take over the Reform Party and turn it into a right-wing fundraising organization," Mangia said of Buchanan. "He's driving a pitchfork through the heart of the Reform Party."

Hagelin's spokesman, Bob Roth, told Reuters that Hagelin could beat Buchanan -- but "only if it is a fair and open election and if people have access to the ballot."

He said that would be a "big if."