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Buchanan Ousted: Hagelin Assumes Reform Party Leadership

Executive Committee Votes 7-0 To Disqualify Pat Buchanan

- News Conference -
Speakers
John Hagelin and Russ Verney
Monday, July 31, 10 AM
Dallas Press Club, Dallas

In an emergency meeting of the Reform Party's National Executive Committee in Dallas today, committee members voted unanimously, 7-0, to disqualify Pat Buchanan in his two-way race against John Hagelin for the Party's presidential nomination.

The vote was a response to mounting evidence of "massive election fraud" by the Buchanan campaign, which submitted nearly 500,000 ballot requests on behalf of ineligible primary voters.

"Pat Buchanan has committed political suicide. He was caught perpetrating what may be the most massive election fraud in U.S. political history," said quantum physicist John Hagelin, who has been locked in a close primary race against Buchanan. "Fortunately, democracy is alive and well in the Reform Party. I congratulate the Executive Committee for standing up for Reform Party principles, and against the strong-arm tactics of Pat and Bay Buchanan."

A recent survey of 1,000 Independence/Reform Party voters in New York found Hagelin with a commanding lead in the popular plebiscite. According to Manhattan County Chair Cathy Stewart, over 700 people had voted or intended to cast votes for Hagelin, while only one person identified himself as a likely Buchanan voter.

"Buchanan resorted to desperate measures when it became clear that this was a popular vote he could not win. But this time, Pat went too far," Hagelin said.

"Pat Buchanan tried to cheat the Reform Party members and wound up cheating only himself," said Russ Verney, former Reform Party national chair. "He had a wonderful opportunity to build and lead a party of principle, integrity, and values. Instead, he chose the low road of politics-as-usual."

Hagelin and Verney will discuss the future of the Reform Party and the Hagelin presidential campaign at a news conference on Monday, July 31, 10:00 a.m., at the Dallas Press Club.