Ross Perot’s Rest From Politics Has Made Him Almost Invisible

It wasn’t a year ago that Ross Perot was nagging America to balance its budget or face its doom. Now that the country is taking his advice, he’s become the man who isn’t there.

“I will summarize everything I have said with these words,” he said during last year’s campaign: “The budget should be balanced. The treasury should be refilled. The public debt should be reduced, and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled.”

But now, with Congress on the verge of acting on his big issue with a plan to balance the federal books over the next five years, no pressure comes from Perot to make it happen faster, or with more certainty. Not a word, not even a lecture to Larry King on the deal that the Republicans and Bill Clinton have cooked up.

“He’s just been AWOL,” said Richard Lamm, the former Colorado governor who contested Perot for the Reform Party’s presidential nomination in 1996.

“I have to say we haven’t seen Ross Perot around much lately,” said Martha Phillips, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a grass-roots organization that crusades for an end to deficits.

“He’s been working on his businesses. He’s spoken out for five years,” said Russell Verney, executive director of Perot’s United We Stand organization and chairman of the Reform Party’s national organizing committee.

The Texas billionaire did not respond to requests for an interview. In his speech conceding defeat after last year’s presidential election, Perot promised he would make himself felt on his issues.

“Take a little break,” he told supporters, “and then we’ll climb into the ring to keep the pressure on and make sure everybody keeps these promises.”

Perot’s critics concede that he deserves credit for putting the question of balancing the budget on the national agenda, even if he hasn’t been a player in this spring’s Washington debate.

“He and his ubiquitous charts in 1992 helped cement this in a way that made it unavoidable,” said Lamm, who runs a public policy think tank in Denver. “But he’s been no help in this last phase. He’s offered no suggestions.”

Pat Choate, the Washington economist and trade protectionist picked by Perot as his 1996 running mate, said Perot has been quietly advising Rep. John Kasich, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee and an architect of the balanced-budget plan.

“Kasich has called Perot, and Perot has helped him time after time,” Choate said. Kasich couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

Perot has been equally silent on his other big issues - campaign reform and opposition to free-trade agreements.

Lamm contends that Perot, creator of the most successful third party of the 20th century, has become its chief threat.

“There’s a third party straining to be born out there, and it could be the Reform Party, but Ross Perot and his fans are never going to be able to make it an effective party,” Lamm said.