Perot, in a Long TV Appearance, Vows to Raise Taxes Only in an Emergency
WASHINGTON -- Ross Perot said he would "absolutely not" raise taxes as president unless "there's some kind of incredible emergency." But he only added confusion as to how he would slash the nation's $400 billion budget deficit by cutting spending.</br></br>In an unusual two-hour call-in program on NBC "Today," Mr. Perot, who in the past has compared the nation's $400 billion budget deficit to "arterial bleeding," cited war as the sort of emergency that might lead him to raise taxes. But he provided virtually no specifics as to how he would cut spending, and he even backed away from earlier suggestions that he could save $20 billion a year by cutting Social Security benefits paid to the affluent.</br></br>In his interview, Mr. Perot offered a vision of a populist presidency, saying that he would stop at red lights when traveling by car, that he would spend most of his time outside of Washington and that he would not accept any salary. "Ross thinks he and his family are already financially secure," Morton Myerson, a top adviser to the Perot campaign, explained later.</br></br>While reinforcing his position as an "outsider," Mr. Perot's comments raised more questions than they answered. For instance, when asked by a caller about the fate of American dairy farmers, Mr. Perot said the problem is that the dairy farmer, "because he's small in numbers, is not properly represented" in Washington, while other special interest groups have political action committees and "people wandering the halls of Congress."</br></br>In fact, dairy interests have proven themselves one of the most powerful lobbying forces in Washington, using that force to prop the price of milk above market levels. The National Milk Producers Federation has a 16-person staff in the nation's capital, and their work is amplified by lobbyists for a half-dozen dairy cooperatives. During the 1989-1990 election cycle, the Associated Milk Producers Inc., a cooperative based in San Antonio, Texas, led all farm and agribusiness political action committees, with $769,800 in contributions to congressional candidates, according to the campaign finance newsletter PACs & Lobbies.