Countywide : Perot Presidential Rally Draws 125

About 125 people gathered at a Ventura park Sunday to show support for Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, who is considering a run for the presidency.

Most of the Grant Park crowd apparently learned of the rally through a full-page advertisement that a Ventura man placed in Saturday’s Ventura Star-Free Press. The ad said that a “top-secret plan to get Ross Perot elected President and start paying our national debt” would be revealed at the meeting.

Instead, members of the Perot Petition Committee passed out flyers and asked people to volunteer for petition drives to qualify Perot as an independent candidate on the California ballot in November.

Ventura resident Kent Pearce placed the ad, but he was sick and not

able to attend the meeting, said his wife, Farion. The ad was “Kent’s own idea,” she said. “He’s been waiting for someone like Ross Perot for a long time.”

Chuck Ryan, chairman of the Santa Barbara Perot Petition Committee, who has been in contact with Ventura County supporters, said the rally was not sponsored by the committee. He said it was helpful, however, in getting Perot’s name before the public. “This is the kind of grass-roots effort we need,” Ryan said.

Several persons at the rally said they were drawn to the folksy Texan because they are unhappy with the status quo.

“I’m here because I’m mad,” said Bob Friedman, 71, of Ventura. “There hasn’t been any choice for the past 12 years.” Friedman was one of many people in the audience who got up to give impromptu speeches about why they like Perot.

“We’re pissed off about what’s happening in Washington,” yelled Terry Hicks, a 50-year-old unemployed general contractor who lives in Oxnard. “In the last 10 years we’ve seen small business get creamed.”

Many of Perot’s supporters at the rally said they don’t know much about him, except that he is an alternative. “I don’t think that most people know what he stands for,” said Larry Gieseking, 41, of Ventura. “But he’s a choice. Our two-party system has failed us.”

Perot supporters must collect 134,781 signatures, or 1% of the state’s registered voters, between April 24 and Aug. 7. Organizers hope to get at least 15,000 signatures in Ventura County.