Linda Smith Would Reject Vp Bid She’ll Stick With Republican Ticket Rather Than Vote For Ross Perot

U.S. Rep. Linda Smith, a conservative who turned aside backers’ pleas that she run for governor, said Tuesday she’ll turn down a vice presidential nomination from Ross Perot if it’s offered.

She doesn’t even plan to vote for him, choosing to side with the Republican ticket and urging the GOP to adopt some of Perot’s crusade.

Smith, R-Wash., has worked closely with Perot on campaign finance legislation, making campaign-style appearances around the country with him and addressing his national convention last year.

Party sources in Dallas said that Perot had settled on Smith as his running mate. But that was news to the congresswoman, who was campaigning in her home district in southwest Washington. She said she hasn’t been contacted and won’t accept the nomination if it’s extended.

In an interview, she endorsed the Dole-Kemp ticket and urged the Republicans to adopt more of Perot’s agenda, including “cleaning up Congress and reducing the effect of special-interest money.”

Smith, whose crusade has landed her appearances on “Meet the Press” and other national media outlets, drew attention last week when she boycotted a San Diego harbor cruise sponsored by tobacco interests during the Republican National Convention. She lambasted the Philip Morris Co. and other businesses who were lavishly entertaining convention delegates and congressmen.

She said she was flattered by the talk of being Perot’s running mate, as she was when supporters pressured her to run for governor. But she said she’s committed to her bid for re-election in the 3rd District.

“I couldn’t be effective dividing my loyalty like that,” she said. “I can’t divert my attention.”

The secretary of state’s office said she would have had to choose between the two offices, since state law says no candidate may be listed on the ballot for more than one office.

Smith, a former state legislator and author of spending-limit and campaign-finance initiatives, was nominated two years ago as a write-in and ousted three-term Democratic incumbent Jolene Unsoeld in the general election. She faces Democrat Brian Baird of Olympia this November.

“I think I am most effective where I am right now,” she said. “I started a national movement, with the help of people like Mr. Perot, in cleaning up the congressional system and making progress on campaign reform and ethics reform. We are making headway.

“We absolutely have to do that before we can balance the federal budget fairly. The tough decisions need to be made to sterilize the system of special-interest money. We have had a phenomenal success abolishing trips and gifts from lobbyists and in making headway educating the public about the effect of special interest money on votes.”