H Ross Perot

Nearly 200 people gathered at a mid-morning rally in Sherman Oaks on Wednesday to boost H. Ross Perot for President. The Texas billionaire's nationwide bid for the presidency was compared to the campaign that carried Prop. 13 in California in 1978. Perot has said he will run if volunteers get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. "We need a change.

Billionaire Texan H. Ross Perot defended his company Thursday against charges that it tried to profit from inside knowledge of California's electricity market. Flanked by lawyers and faced with a clot of cameras unusual for a Capitol hearing, the former presidential candidate caused a stir with his appearance but not his testimony before a state Senate committee. "He doesn't seem to have any more knowledge now than he did a month ago," said Sen.

The family of computer magnate H. Ross Perot donated $20 million to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, the largest single gift ever given a state institution in Texas. The gift, to be spread over 10 years, will be used to recruit and train researchers and to supplement research programs.

SACRAMENTO -- H. Ross Perot, who promised to testify "any time, any place" before a state legislative committee investigating Perot Systems' blueprint for gaming the California electricity market, said that he would not be available to testify until next month and would not deliver requested documents to the committee. In a letter sent Thursday to Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana), attorneys for Perot said he would not be available to appear at the Capitol until after July 8.

In a remarkably scathing and personal denunciation of his old political foe, Dallas billionaire businessman H. Ross Perot said President Clinton "is mentally and emotionally unstable" and an immoral misfit with a "defective brain" whose behavior threatens no less than democracy itself. Perot's speech during his Reform Party's second national convention in Atlanta kept many of the hundreds of people on their feet.

Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot said he did not want to run for President but would agree to run a grass-roots campaign as an independent candidate if enough ordinary people placed his name on the ballot in all 50 states. In an interview Thursday on CNN's "Larry King Live," Perot said: "I'm not asking to be drafted." But he said he was "touched" by letters in longhand from "everyday folks" urging him to seek the presidency.

The amount of commercial paper outstanding grew $14.7 billion in May, the largest monthly increase since November 2000 and the first boost this year, according to Federal Reserve statistics. Commercial paper, corporate debt that matures in nine months or less used to finance day-to-day operations, rose to $1.37 billion, the highest total since February. Commercial paper had been dropping as issuers refinanced through longer-term loans and bonds.

Shares of Williams Cos., Avista Corp. and El Paso Electric Co. suffered big losses Wednesday, the day after federal regulators threatened to revoke the power-trading licenses of the three companies. Shares of other power companies also were hard hit, continuing a dismal stretch for an industry under investigation by regulators and suffering harsh scrutiny by credit rating agencies.

Citadel Broadcasting Corp., the sixth-largest U.S. radio broadcaster and Forstmann Little & Co.'s biggest acquisition, filed Wednesday to raise $575 million in an initial stock offering amid rising prices for radio stocks. Citadel didn't specify the number of shares to be sold or any price per share in a filing with the SEC. The offering will be managed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Credit Suisse First Boston. Forstmann Little, the third-largest leveraged buyout firm, paid $2.

Ross Perot rejected supporters' efforts to put his name on the Reform Party's primary ballot Friday, clearing a hurdle for Pat Buchanan's presidential bid. Russell Verney, Perot's spokesman, said the Texas billionaire decided against running in the primary because he had no intention of actually competing for the White House against Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore. "Ross Perot will not appear on the Reform Party nomination ballot," Verney told Associated Press.

Karen Mountain proudly displays photos of Ross Perot in her living room, and a snapshot of another Reform Party founding father is on her refrigerator. She is not about to let Pat Buchanan take over Perot's party. So Mountain, a Tustin resident who works for a political ad firm, went on the Internet last month in hopes of finding an alternative, in essence, to another alternative presidential candidate. "I was looking around and saying, 'There's got to be somebody other than Buchanan.'

A federal judge ruled Monday that a longtime ally of Ross Perot is the legitimate head of the Reform Party, settling a contentious dispute that had threatened to destroy the organization in recent months. Economist Pat Choate, who ran as the party's 1996 vice presidential candidate with Perot, claimed undisputed control over the party as a result of the ruling by U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon in Virginia.

SACRAMENTO -- H. Ross Perot, who promised to testify "any time, any place" before a state legislative committee investigating Perot Systems' blueprint for gaming the California electricity market, said that he would not be available to testify until next month and would not deliver requested documents to the committee. In a letter sent Thursday to Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana), attorneys for Perot said he would not be available to appear at the Capitol until after July 8.

Jesse Ventura, the former pro wrestler who was elected governor of Minnesota last year on the Reform Party ticket, wrested control of the party apparatus Sunday from its founder, Ross Perot, at the group's national convention. Jack Gargan, a retired chicken farmer and onetime tennis court caretaker backed by Ventura, won a three-way contest for the party chairmanship and immediately vowed to turn the independent organization into more than the party of Perot.

Reform Party founder Ross Perot urged his party Saturday night to remain united and continue to fight for a balanced budget, term limits and campaign reform. Perot didn't say whether he is interested in seeking his party's nomination for a third presidential run. But many waved Perot placards and hooted with approval during his 40-minute campaign-style speech at the party's national convention here.