PEROT FORCES ARE GEARING UP

Cape Girardeau resident Don McAnally is frustrated by a political system that he feels has gone haywire.

"I'm trying to keep two businesses going," he said. "I work all the time and the government could care less for me.

"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired of those clowns," he said. "I'm willing to try somebody else."

For McAnally, that somebody else is Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot. A business executive with a can-do reputation, Perot has condemned Washington as a place where "nothing constructive happens."

McAnally was among nearly 30 people who turned out for a meeting Saturday morning to lay the groundwork for a Cape Girardeau County petition drive, part of a national effort to get Perot's name on the presidential election ballot as an independent candidate. Saturday's meeting was held at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Perot has said he will run for president as an independent if supporters get his name on ballots in all 50 states. The wealthy Texan has also vowed to spend up to $100 million of his own money on the campaign.

Cape Girardeau attorney Mike Ponder, who is coordinating the petition drive in the 8th Congressional District, said 22,000 to 24,000 signatures are needed statewide to get Perot's name on the November ballot.

The deadline for submitting the petitions is Aug. 3.

He said they hope to net 5,000 signatures of registered voters from the 8th District.

He said he expects many of those signatures to come from Cape Girardeau County. With a population of about 66,000, it is the most populous county in Southeast Missouri.

"It's really just a grassroots movement," said Ponder.

Dr. Hal Brown, a Cape Girardeau physician, and local insurance agent Ken Scheer are coordinating the Cape County effort.

"I think our biggest concern is just to make sure that if they are signed up, they are registered voters," Brown told the Perot supporters.

Scheer said a local petition-signing effort will be held May 2, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Cape Girardeau County North Park.

Perot for President organizers said the grassroots effort is being done with little money.

"At this point in time, we are a copy-machine campaign," said Scheer. The petition drive, he said, is laying the groundwork for a Perot election campaign.

"I think we are at a critical point where we need to effect change in the way that our wishes and desires are represented in Washington."

Scheer believes part of the problem is that the nation's political leaders are career politicians rather than "citizen-servants" of the public.

He maintained that lawmakers should serve limited terms "and then come back and live in the real world."

Scheer said the nation's founding fathers never intended for America's national leaders to be career politicians.

"Right now they do and say what is required to be elected," he said. "Professional politicians' primary goal is to get re-elected."

He contended, "Professional politicians don't live in the real world. They live in the world of perks and public money."

Scheer said there's little public confidence in the political system and politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties. "Politicians are looking out for themselves, not the taxpayers."

Said Scheer, "We need some statesmanship."

Scheer maintained Perot can offer that statesmanship because he is not a career politician. "He represents the unconventional politician who is willing to say, `The system is screwed up; we need to fix it.'"

Scheer said those interested in the Perot petition drive can contact him at 335-0005 or 334-4117, or Alberta Jones at 334-4760.