Especially troubling, Perot said, were inquiries by several news organizations (including NEWSWEEK) into charges that he had ordered private investigators to probe the lives and backgrounds of his daughters’ boyfriends. A week before Perot quit, one of his close friends told NEWSWEEK that Perot was “perturbed, very upset” about the media inquiries. He insisted there was no truth to the charges, the friend said. But he was worried that publication would needlessly involve his daughters in the political wars. “It’s an unbelievably brutal process,” Luntz said Perot had told him.
Even though he’s out of the race, Perot isn’t avoiding the limelight. He plans to publish his much-ballyhooed economic plan, perhaps as early as this week. Among its draconian proposals: taxing up to 85 percent of social-security benefits, raising insurance rates for Medicare beneficiaries, income-tax hikes for the upper middle class and above, slashing business entertainment deductions and a 50-cent rise in the gas tax.
Perot’s domestic-policy adviser John White will make a number of media appearances to promote the plan, including stops on national news shows. It’s unclear whether Perot will hit the talk-show circuit himself to boost the book. He did tell the Los Angeles Times last week that he was considering TV ads on economic issues like the deficit and the federal debt. “Absolutely, it’s an attempt to influence public policy,” says a former campaign official.
