RAN 9/13 Businessman says he's tailor-made for president Morry Taylor is taking his millions on a cross-country trip that he hopes will end in Washington. By CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS Telegraph Staff
Presidential aspirant Maurice Taylor Jr. wouldn't fill his Cabinet with politicians, lawyers and economists. Instead, Taylor's picks for vice president and Cabinet secretaries would be experienced business managers. "I will not appoint a political appointee to manage anything," he said Tuesday at a meeting with editors and a reporter at The Telegraph. The Illinois wheel magnate with a track record of transforming failed companies into money-makers seeks to repeat in Washington the recent success story of the Pirelli Armstrong Tire Corp. in Des Moines, Iowa. After buying the foundering plant whose workers had walked out on strike, Taylor delivered company profits within six months and shared them with workers. "There was no magic," said Taylor, who has built his reputation on buying up top-heavy companies and gutting superfluous executive jobs. "It's real simple," he said of the process. He hopes to do the same with the federal government, pledging to slash the bureaucracy by one-third. Characterizing himself as political-outsider for the GOP nomination, Taylor said he would build consensus in Washington the way he has negotiated contracts with his labor force, stressing mutual benefit and common sense. He said he would make an effort to work with Congress. Taylor said party politics should be set aside after elections as the business of running the government gets under way. "If you've got a majority of Republicans on the committee, who cares who's sittin" in the chair,"he said. "He also took shots at several Republican congressmen. "It"s totally ridiculous and bad management to turn around and appoint a 90-some-year-old senator the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee," referring to Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. And he said Republicans were "foolish" to appoint as chairman of the Finance Committee U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., who recently resigned in disgrace over sexual harassment allegations. In the middle of a 30-day campaign swing through 89 New England communities, Taylor has already logged thousands of miles in the relative comfort of a convoy of recreational vehicles. Taylor, 50, worked himself up from a tool and die maker to president and CEO of Titan Wheel International. A college drop out, he left General Motors when he bought a failing wheel company from Firestone in 1983. Although not a household name, he plans to sink $5 million of his personal fortune on a campaign that already has included television ads in New Hampshire. Taylor made a decent showing in the Iowa straw poll where he placed sixth, beating out U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and California Gov. Pete Wilson. But Taylor had a hometown advantage. And campaigned hard there, visiting 99 counties, and spending $300,000 in advertising and $25,000 on tickets for the poll. Opposed to Political Action Committees, he said he would seek legislation outlawing the popular form of campaign financing. He also objects to matching federal election funds, preferring that candidates receive only individual contributions up to $2,000. An abortion rights proponent, Taylor said he was not invited to the Christian Coalition's annual conference last weekend, where GOP hopefuls lined up for the conservative group's endorsement. He said prayer should be allowed in schools as it had been for centuries before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the 1960s that banned it. But he said the Pledge of Allegiance is even more important. The notion of government paid vasectomies and tubal ligation procedures "has merit to it," as an effort to curb the population of welfare dependent families, he said. Also worthy of consideration is the return of public whipping as an alternative to prison time, he added. Taylor decried current U.S. trade policy that rewards companies who move manufacturing overseas and penalizes American plants with burdensome taxes. "If you want to raise the standard of living of every country of the world, then it's simple, folks. Our's is going to come down," he said. "I don't believe the majority of the American people want that." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Telegraph The daily newspaper for Nashua and P.O. Box 1008 Southern New Hampshire since 1832. Nashua, NH 03061 (603) 882-2741 Newsroom fax: (603) 882-2681 ===========================================================================