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In addition to financial contributions, Perot paid the salaries of 10 Electronic Data Systems employees while they worked on Nixon's 1968 campaign. When the IRS challenged Perot for taking a deduction on his company's tax bill for his political contributions, the White House, according to a memo, was "modestly helpful" to Perot in his efforts to reach a settlement with the agency. The next year, he spent $1 million on newspaper ads and a 30-minute TV program called United We Stand to drum up support for Nixon's Vietnam policy. According to documents in the Nixon archives, some of Perot's access came on a promise to spend $50 million to get the President favorable coverage by buying a newspaper and a television network. (John Ehrlichman took the offer seriously enough to estimate the cost of a network takeover at $400 million.)
Perot never put up most of the money, but he got the influence he sought. The Nixon White House helped free up $308,000 from the Social Security Administration, which claimed that Perot had overcharged for processing Medicare claims. It also helped Perot win a $62,500 contract without competitive bidding, even though it was over the $10,000 limit.
In operating inside the corridors of power, Perot has not broken any laws. The Constitution protects the right of citizens to go wingtip to wingtip with their leaders. But if there is anything voters are asking of those who would be President this time around, it is that they be honest about who they are. At the moment, the poetry of the Perot campaign -- what he is selling and thousands of volunteers are buying -- is the image of a Texas outrider ready to represent the little guy against the power brokers and reclaim the country from moral paralysis. It is an appealing image in this year of voter unrest, but only to the extent that it is true.