Politics

Top Reform Flack Quits

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 19, 2000 / 10:30 AM EDT / CBS

The erstwhile GOP troll under the bridge now seems to be the main source of strife in the ailing Reform Party, which of late has battled - sometimes physically - over everything from the site of its convention to the name of its chairman.

In the latest from America's third political party, press secretary Donna Donovan has resigned. The resignation signaled a widening rift between presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan and allies of party founder Ross Perot, officials said.

Donovan tells CBSNews.com she will turn her focus to the newly formed Reform Party Leadership Council, the goal of which will be to keep the party "on message."

Donovan will also remain chairman of the Connecticut Reform Party, she said.

But her resignation was emblematic of deepening problems between Buchanan, who joined the party last year, and longtime Reform officials.

"I can't say that I have not been disappointed in the Buchanan campaign," Donovan said Wednesday, referring to heavy handed tactics Buchanan supporters have used at state-level Reform Party conventions in recent weeks.

Asked whether she will end up supporting Buchanan's Reform Party bid, Donovan demurred, saying "I think I'm going to pass on that question for the moment."

Nor would Donovan concede that Buchanan - easily the most high-profile political figure operating in the party - is an inevitability as its presidential nominee. Donovan says "it's still possible" that Buchanan won't end up with the party's nomination.

Donovan's resignation, and obvious concern with the future of the party, comes in the wake of several high-profile squabbles. Following a party meeting in Nashville, Tenn., which turned into a televised wrestling match between factions, a federal judge in Virginia last month settled some of the party's infighting by ousting Jack Gargan as chairman and replacing him with Pat Choate, Perot's running mate in 1996.

"What I'm trying to do is gain my own focus on what the Reform Party is about and share that with the people," said Donovan, who joined the party in its early days in 1992 and has been active ever since.

"I'm not going away," she said.