Third Party In Tatters

A national Reform Party gathering in Nashville this weekend was political rumble in more ways than one.

There was slapping, a little hollering and a few wrestling fans in the crowd as embattled Chairman Jack Gargan tried to hold an organized meeting just one day after Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura quit the party on Friday.

For months, the party founded by Ross Perot has seen vicious infighting. On Saturday, Gargan, an ally of Ventura, was ousted in a showdown that brought such an explosion that Nashville police threatened to shut down the proceedings.

The committee, by a 109-31 vote, removed Gargan from his post on a motion that said "he has failed to faithfully perform and execute the duties of his office." One person abstained. Ventura's name did not come up during the meeting.

On Sunday, the Minnesota governor further washed his hands of his former political home.

"Frankly, I don't care" about the future of the Reform Party without him, Ventura told ABC's This Week.

And the governor said he would consider a run for vice president - if Arizona senator John McCain asked him to be his running mate.

Ventura said, "The senator hasn't called me yet, but you know if he did, I'd certainly give a little weight to it. I respect him that much that I'd owe that due if he did do that."

In the past, the former pro wrestler turned governor has repeatedly said he would not seek higher office in 2000. McCain is seeking the Republican nomination for president.

"Now that I've broken away from the National Reform Party, I'm now free to support and endorse any candidate of my choice," he said.

Ventura praised McCain for doing an "outstanding job" of winning support from third party voters.

"Just as I shocked the world here in Minnesota, Senator McCain may shock the world nationally," he predicted.

"His candidacy very much is patterned after mine," Ventura said, referring to his successful campaign to become governor.

At Saturday's meeting in Nashville, Gargan's allies were far outnumbered by Perot's. Both sides arrived in the conference room at the Nashville Airport Marriott poised for a squabble. Gargan got a few steps inside the ropes marking the meeting zone when he was surrounded by Perot loyalists who objected to Gargan's two attorneys accompanying him.

Finally taking the podium, Gargan was able to find two areas of common ground when he asked participants to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, and remain standing for a moment of silence in memory of those killed in the Alaska Airlines crash last week.

That was the last moment of peaceful assembly.

From the podium, Gargan began making his case that the meeting was illegally called because members were given fewer than the required 30 days of notice.

He was immediately shouted down by Perot's allies.

From microphones scattered throughout the audience, motions were made to oust Gargn from chairing the meeting. He refused to leave the podium and continued trying to make his case.

At one point, a woman tried to unplug Gargan's microphone. A second woman shoved her to the ground.

One of his supporters, Dale Barlow of Oklahoma, grabbed Gargan's microphone at one point and hollered: "I am ashamed of this party!"

"Shut up, Dale!" someone yelled.

And outside the conference room, about eight Nashville police officers had gathered to respond to an anonymous 911 call, according to Kathryn Seibel of Tennessee, who organized much of the meeting.

Asked how she felt about the developments, she said, "I'm mortified."

Over the Internet, in court and in the press, the Reform Party's factions have battled over everything from the location of the party's national convention, its philosophical direction, its procedures, and even whether certain national committee members were qualified to be present on Saturday. For months, a move has been afoot to oust Gargan, Ventura's hand-picked chairman who took his post in January.

Certain that Gargan was likely to be ousted, Ventura fired a preemptive strike at the national party Friday by quitting. The governor branded the organization "dysfunctional", urging the Minnesota state party to break away and reclaim its old name: the Independence Party.