Reform Party

THE REFORM PARTY is a third party in American politics that emerged from Ross Perot's 1992 Independent presidential campaign. The goal of the Reform Party is to reform the current political system by electing candidates who will make government fiscally responsible and more responsive to citizens. The key issues for Reform Party members have been campaign finance reform, term limits, a balanced federal budget, foreign trade, and Social Security and Medicare reform. The forerunner of the Reform Party was United We Stand America (UWSA), which was established in early 1992 for the purpose of gathering enough signatures in each state for Perot, a businessman, to appear on the ballot. The grassroots organization, based in Dallas, Texas, was organized into state chapters, which facilitated the collection of signatures under state ballot access laws.

Following his 1992 campaign, Perot decided to keep UWSA going as a non-partisan “educational group,” appointing Russell Verney, who had worked on his campaign, as executive director. The organization's principal purpose was to channel Perot's opposition to the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), although the organization also supported campaign finance reform and balancing the federal budget. In 1995, Perot founded the Reform Party. The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) ruled that the party would be eligible for $30 million in federal funds in the 1996 presidential election campaign as a result of Perot having received 19 percent of the popular vote in 1992, provided that Perot was its candidate. Perot planned to incorporate UWSA into the new party, appointing Verney its national chair. However, there was opposition to Perot: some opposed [Page 702]turning UWSA into a partisan political organization, while others opposed the plan because they hoped to support former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm's candidacy for the new party's presidential nomination, and believed that Perot's supporters, who controlled the new party organization, would insure his selection as the party's candidate for 1996. This resulted in the creation of competing organizations: the Reform Party and United We Stand America.

Perot did win the nomination (his running mate was Pat Choate, a radio talk show host, college professor, and like Perot, an opponent of free trade), however, the split between Perot and Lamm supporters handicapped the party in the general election, as Perot's percentage of the popular vote dropped to eight percent. Following the election, the party's leadership attempted to distance itself from Perot to attract more support. Some of Lamm's supporters left the party in 1997, to form the American Reform Party.

In 1998, Jesse Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota as the Reform Party candidate. Ventura, a former professional wrestler, movie actor, radio talk show host, and mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota (1991–95) won the election despite not receiving support from Perot or the national party. During the next two years, there was skirmishing between supporters of Perot and Ventura for control of the party. In 1999, Ventura's supporters took control of the party, electing Jack Gargan as the party's national chair. Ventura (who did not seek reelection in 2002) left the party, contending that it lacked leadership and could not escape from Perot's shadow.

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