Mutiny in Perotland

By LAURENCE I. BARRETT WASHINGTON

For Lloyd Wells, serving as a volunteer in Ross Perot's advocacy group United We Stand America "was one of the most euphoric experiences of my life." Wells, 72, had been an activist for decades, agitating against orthodox politics. It was the fulfillment of his dreams when Perot arrived on the scene and organized a popular rebellion against the major parties. But this month the Maine chapter of Perot's organization ejected Wells and two others for alleged insubordination. Last week Wells was helping to organize a competing group in Maine and began coordinating with disaffected Perotistas elsewhere. "We're going to promote Perot's agenda without Perot," said Tim Beal, one of the Maine rebels. "We need an eloquent spokesperson, but we don't need a dictator."

Nationally, Perot's standing prospers. Though his Dallas headquarters refuses to disclose current numbers, the group has recruited more than 1 million members since January and appears to be growing steadily. In a TIME/ CNN poll last week, Perot's favorable rating, 54%, was virtually the same as Bill Clinton's, at 57%.

Below the waterline, however, Perot's effort to build a national organization of many millions is springing leaks. By the estimate of some dissidents, there are now about 100 small splinter groups of Perot defectors. Loosely organized so far, they keep in touch with one another through a phone- and-fax network. Roger Lindholm, a Phoenix, Arizona, business consultant, now edits one of several newsletters for disgruntled activists.

The prime source of friction is that Perot wants to focus his group's energy on attracting more followers, while the members already on board want to push the Perot agenda by lobbying legislatures and backing local candidates. Now that Perot has built an army, it is itching to fight battles over such issues as taxes and legislative term limits. But Perot won't let them do so, leading disgruntled Perotistas to claim the group has become like a giant pyramid scheme, existing only for the purpose of growing larger. The dispute has produced a sharp discrepancy between Perot's self-image as a mere servant of the volunteers and his need to impose discipline on a movement fueled by independence. "I'm Ross, you're the boss," he tells his followers. When they take that slogan literally, conflict occurs.

The upheaval in Maine is a vivid example. When Wells complained that the national group was developing "military-industrial organizational procedures," Perot headquarters ignored him, so he attempted to incorporate the Maine chapter independently of Dallas. He also went public with his criticism. Stephen Bost, the Maine coordinator appointed by Dallas, responded by summoning Wells to appear before an "ad hoc committee on grievances." Wells states that the meeting took the form of a tribunal, accusing him of disrupting the membership drive and damaging Perot's image. "If names had been stones," Wells said, "I'd be black and blue or dead." Though the panel ruled that Wells could remain in the organization, Bost later refunded Wells' $15 membership fee and a $100 contribution he had made. The Perot alumni network depicted Wells as a martyr for the cause.

Meanwhile, a rump group in Idaho may become a model for other rebels. About 200 of Perot's most zealous supporters, operating under the title of United We < Stand Idaho, is focusing its efforts on such local issues as county land policy. Because that clashed with Dallas' post-election strategy of concentrating on recruitment, the national headquarters has now sanctioned a second, larger Idaho chapter and is trying to quash the independent group.

The dispute over goals is proving deeply divisive. Some activists want to use United We Stand America as the foundation of a new national political party -- an idea Perot has considered but put aside. Other followers hope to endorse candidates for local and federal office, using Perot's preachments as criteria. Dallas is not ready for that tactic yet. The restless centurions also want to act out Perot's reformist script in concrete political ways.

About two dozen state directors have quit or been pushed out since Perot began organizing the present incarnation of United We Stand America in January. Tom Wing, who had led the Perot faction in Illinois as a volunteer since last summer, was dumped in March. His interim successor, Janice Horner, says Wing lost favor because he wanted control. The real problem, Wing charges, was that he was building an activist group intending, among other things, to pressure the Illinois congressional delegation to support Perot's policy proposals. According to Perot's rhetoric, that should have been welcomed by headquarters, but Dallas disapproved. "We were told," Wing says, "that the only appropriate activity after the election was getting members signed up."

Some of the turmoil results from confusion and personal rivalries that are inevitable in a ballooning new organization of amateurs. Perot distances himself from these problems, relying on a handful of emissaries to keep order. These agents often impress the locals as tough but incompetent. Says one defector: "He's got people in command whom he trusts -- that's all that counts, not whether they're good or bad."

Similar gripes are heard from the Northeast to the Southwest. Most vocal are veterans who stuck with Perot through his erratic presidential campaign and now think he is abandoning the movement's original goals in favor of gratifying his ego. Quipped Joyce Shepard, a county leader in New York: "I feel as if I've remarried an abusive husband."

In Dallas Perot's senior advisers dismiss the dissenters as a tiny minority. Darcy Anderson, once a real-estate executive for Perot and now executive director of the group, said last week, "We grew so quickly, with no infrastructure in place. Now we're building the foundations." That effort includes hiring a full-time director in each state. All but two of the 21 named so far have come from the cadre of volunteers. Eventually members in each congressional district will elect a local leader. These district coordinators in turn will select state executives from their own ranks. Once those layers are in place, presumably the rank-and-file will not feel irrelevant.

The national headquarters, however, will still exert ultimate control. Each state chapter is to receive a "license," much like a fast-food franchise, from Dallas, and Perot will retain the right to cancel a chapter's accreditation. Explained Clay Mulford, the national group's general counsel: "We don't want to be held responsible for every action they may take."

Yet the huge mechanism Perot is building still lacks a goal more concrete than expanding its patron's political influence. John White, Perot's chief economic consultant a year ago, predicts the instability will continue. The movement, White says, contains "no unifying principle other than the personality of Ross Perot. So it's hard to keep it together." A current Perot adviser concedes that "they have to decide in Dallas what they're really going to be."

Perot seems to be in no hurry to do that, any more than he is bothered by the mutiny of some of his followers. Perot has established himself as a large enough political force to rattle both the White House and Congress. He will buy more television time in which to argue his positions and pitch membership in his national group. Meanwhile, network and local talk shows give him ample free air time, helping to keep his poll ratings lofty.

Gordon Black, the independent pollster now doing surveys for Perot, forecasts that United We Stand America will have close to 10 million dues- paying members by the end of the year. Even half that number would be impressive. At that point, Perot envisions a dramatic unveiling of his organization's numerical strength, along with a new assertion of his issues agenda. He will display that heft just as the congressional election campaign starts, aiming at pressuring candidates. His followers can hardly wait.

With reporting by John F. Dickerson/New York and Richard Woodbury/Dallas