Perot Army of Volunteers Is Growing : Politics: The potential presidential candidate delivers his message from a Sherman Oaks storefront--on videotape.

By SAM ENRIQUEZ

April 30, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Texas billionaire and potential presidential candidate Ross Perot is working the crowd on Ventura Boulevard these days--bashing politicians and putting his homespun spin on national problems for a sidewalk audience near Tower Records.

But as befits a candidate of the 1990s, Perot’s street speech is recorded on videotape and shown on a television set pressed to the window of a dress shop turned campaign headquarters, one of two in Los Angeles County.

The old-fashioned gimmick, used to sell television sets in the 1950s, is drawing a new generation of passersby. They are stopping and listening to Perot speak from his electronic soapbox at the Sherman Oaks storefront that Perot paid for and that a growing army of grass-roots volunteers opened Monday.

Almost none of his California volunteers have ever seen him in person, and a list of upcoming campaign appearances posted in the Sherman Oaks office all refer to scheduled television appearances from elsewhere.

Southern California Campaign Director Bill Meyers said at the storefront Wednesday that he got the Perot bug when he stumbled on an appearance by the Texas businessman by chance as he scanned a number of TV channels.

“I called my wife in right away,” said Meyers, an air-conditioning mechanic from Orange County. “I said, ‘Here’s a guy who is telling the truth.’ ”

Perot has said he will spend as much as $100 million of his money to run for President as an independent candidate if he qualifies for the ballot in almost all 50 states. Perot organizers say the number of his supporters in California is growing so rapidly that the campaign resembles the drive in support of Proposition 13, the landmark property tax-cutting measure.

A Times Poll released Tuesday shows Perot running about even with President Bush among voters in California.

“It’s like I’m sitting on top of Mt. Vesuvius,” said Perot’s West San Fernando Valley coordinator, Wayne Edington of Calabasas. “At 10:45 last night we couldn’t close the front door. People were still watching the tape and coming in to buy buttons and give money.”

The totals won’t be tallied until the end of the week, they said.

An estimated 4,000 Perot volunteers in Los Angeles and Orange counties will begin collecting signatures Saturday to put Perot’s name on the California ballot in November. Perot campaign offices have also opened in Lawndale and in Irvine in Orange County.

Supporters said they will easily collect the 134,781 signatures required to qualify Perot in California. Any registered voter is eligible to sign the petitions, which are due Aug. 7.

“You won’t be able to go to a grocery store, you won’t be able to go to the mall, you won’t be able to go to the movies without an opportunity to sign a petition to put Perot on the ballot,” said Mike Norris, a Studio City resident and former retailer who is heading the Los Angeles County Perot effort.

By mid-April, about 60,000 California residents had called Perot’s Dallas campaign headquarters to offer help, said Orange County coordinator Merrick Okamoto, a 31-year-old stockbroker.

“I think there are 75,000 people right now who want to sign,” Okamoto said.

The excitement over Perot has drawn an unusual mix of volunteers to answer the 15 telephone lines in the newly opened Sherman Oaks headquarters. Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, even Hollywood liberals were on hand for a news conference Wednesday, most praising what they called Perot’s honesty and common sense.

“The last campaign I worked for was Barry Goldwater’s,” said John McKey, 58, a Chatsworth financial consultant. “Like a lot of people, I’m just fed up with the nonsense.”

Actor Vincent Schiavelli, another Perot volunteer, said: “You can have a leftist son and his right-leaning Dad wondering, ‘How is it possible we are both for the same candidate?’ It’s because no matter what side you’re on, people are realizing the political process is not producing leadership.”