The Press: Truckin' with Overdrive

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Parkhurst also treats advertisers with truculent disdain. For example, he refuses to accept Ford Motor Co. ads because "they made a crummy truck," and both a Union Oil Co. division and White Motor Corp. have in the past pulled out their advertising after he rapped them. He also has to pay for lawyers to protect himself against an average of some $25 million in pending libel suits (he has won seven and never lost), and to maintain an electric gate at his shabby Hollywood offices to guard against midnight raiders and subpoena servers. Says one staffer: "He could be taking home a quarter-million a year, but he truly is a crusader." Parkhurst himself lives frugally with his wife (he owns no home) and seems unconcerned about his prodigal spending on exposés and causes: "It doesn't bring back dollar income, but if we don't do it, who will?"

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