From: gary@maestro.mitre.org (Gary Bisaga)
Subject: One man's view of H. Ross Perot (was: ... on social issues)
Reply-To: gary@maestro.mitre.org (Gary Bisaga)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 17:01:11 GMT

In article <MAS.92Apr7213646@csa.bu.edu>, mas@csa.bu.edu (Mark A. Semich) writes:
|> In article <1992Apr2.175640.2169@linus.mitre.org> gary@clarinet.mitre.org (Gary Bisaga) writes:
|>    In article <1992Apr1.132640.25043@midway.uchicago.edu>, thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:
|>    |> In article <1992Apr1.041620.16360@seq.uncwil.edu> harrist@seq.uncwil.edu (Trey Harris) writes:
|>    |> >I am sure that Perot Systems is on USENET.  Would any Perot Systems
|>    |> >employees care to comment on the above?
|>    |> From what I've heard about EDS, I'm under the impression that any
|>    |> Perot Systems employees would be very afraid to comment on the above.
|>    True.  I worked for EDS for three years and I wouldn't want to comment.
Actually, what I meant (I apologize for being confusing) was that I wouldn't
want to comment if I was still an employee.  I have received email indicating
that I had confused others.  For this I apologize.  I actually didn't post
because I didn't want to get embroiled in a flame war.  But, what the hell,
here's the posting I sent via private e-mail to a correspondent in Boston:

-------------------------
Subject: Ross Perot, an "insider's" view

Dear (omitted),

Like that subject line?  I think's it's kind of catchy and wouldn't
mind seeing it on a segment on a local infotainment TV show.  <:^)

>Can I infer from your message that ...
No, not really either.  Actually I just don't like to get embroiled in
long usenet discussions, but I figured I'd help out anyone who did but
didn't want to be known.  Also, I haven't read the group in a week or
so since our news server is down, or broken, or something (I just know
our machine is up but it keeps refusing NNTP connections).

>I'm interested in Perot's candidacy, if you can call it that.
So am I.  I was not that impressed with him when I worked for his
company, but you have to remember that was from the point of view of
being an employee in a company that doesn't exactly encourage
non-conformity, and being in a group that was definitely non-conformist
(and thus quite unpopular companarily speaking).  He ran his company
like a military organization and I would expect him to do the same, or
try to anyway, with the country.

On the positive side, I believe that he is being totally candid with
whatever he does say (although I would prefer that he said a little
more about what he wants to do, not just what he doesn't want to do).
If *does* he comes out and say something, I would expect that he will
follow through and support that come hell or high water.  There's not
too many others (certainly not the current president) who can say the
same thing.  For example, I find his pro-choice position a tad
surprising considering what I know of his church-going background (an
apparently true story is that he thought of the name "EDS" while in
church ... although I thought you were supposed to be thinking holy
thoughts then :^).  However, if he comes out and says he's pro-choice
(again, I'd be interested in hearing a little more specifically what he
means by this), then I would expect that he'd support that statement
and not, for example, nominate Bush-style supreme court justices.

I also think his electronic forum, or whatever he's called it, is for
real.  When he ran EDS, the company had an "open-door" policy.  You, as
an employee could call up his office in Dallas about any given
subject.  I have heard of somebody in our office who did call him; his
secretary told her that he was out.  She (the person in our office)
thought that was that; much to her surprise, she got a call the next
day: "Hello, this is Ross Perot ..."  Technically speaking, the rule
amongst managers was also that they were supposed to implement
open-door policies.

However:  The practice was that this didn't take place that much.  I am
not sure what this was due to: either (a) the general mindset in the
almost wholly ex-military management structure they hired, or (b)
official management policies that were largely hidden from the actual
working people.  I think it's a little bit of both; the former for
obvious reasons, and the latter because I know that there was specific
management training that in other, similar ways contradicted what the
average Joe Lunch-Bucket was told, kind of like the typical military
policy of the Lieutenant walking in and being a great guy to all the
enlisted, then whispering to the Sergeant behind the men's backs to
crack down on them notwithstanding what he had just said.

>Do you think Mr. Perot is a reasonable candidate?
Certainly.  I am not sure I will vote for him unless he gives us a
little better idea about what his stands are; however, unlike some
folks (virtually all of the other candidates we have seen so far in
this election; I don't know about the Libertarians) I would trust him
to, if he has some general ideas about where he wants to go with
something, be able to figure out a way to implement those ideas.  Some
of the other guys I wouldn't trust with such a leap (Thousand Points of
Light and some of Clinton's criticisms of, say, Brown leap to mind) and
I'd want to know very specific information about what they have in
mind.  I wouldn't require that of a guy like Perot, but I'd like to
have some credible information about in general where he stands.

>Can you recommend sources of information on whatever might constitute
>Perot's qualification for the presidency (or lack thereof)?
I'm afraid not.  I haven't heard of anything either side more than:
(PRO) Well, he can run businesses!
(CON) Well, he's an outsider!

>Thanks for your time.  Sorry to bother you.
Not at all.  I'd be interested in hearing anything you come up with.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.  I realize in re-reading this that there
are many contradictory things I have said, but that pretty much
reflects the way I feel.

Gary


-- 
Gary Bisaga (gbisaga@mitre.org)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.elections