Calls--For and Against--Rise at Perot HQ : Politics: A published report says the Texan has spent more than $7 million to sustain his supporters since he declined to run.

DALLAS —  Some were calling to voice support, others to ask questions or give advice. And some were calling Ross Perot’s North Dallas headquarters in rage Tuesday because the sometime presidential candidate’s new phone bank did not register votes against the Texas billionaire.

But regardless of the reasons, the sound of the ringing phones at Perot’s United We Stand movement gave his long-suffering volunteers hope that their candidate would soon be in the 1992 presidential race and that their up-and-down movement would again be on the upswing.

“We’ve been through some busy times and thin times, but I think they’re going to get busy again,” said Frank X. Shushok, a Richardson, Tex., real estate broker.

The new interest was prompted, of course, by Perot’s declaration that he may decide by Thursday to officially declare his candidacy.

On Tuesday, a parade of camera crews and out-of-state volunteers trooped through Perot’s offices, which are in a manicured office park. And there were predictions that the operation soon would be as busy as it was before July 16, when Perot announced that, after flirting with the prospect, he had decided against running for President. Until then, the offices had 125 phone lines and bustled with dozens of staff members and volunteers.

The operation has a way to go before returning to that level. Even after the national attention Perot received Monday as senior advisers to President Bush and Democratic nominee Bill Clinton courted him and his state political coordinators, the phones at times on Tuesday were relatively quiet.

The campaign said Tuesday that its new phone bank had received 1.5 million calls by midnight Monday, just a few hours after Perot had announced on CNN’s “Larry King Live” that supporters could register their endorsement of his entry by calling a new 800 number.

But the volunteers acknowledged that a number of calls directly to their offices were from people who had called the 800 number to register opposition and were frustrated when they could not. (The 800 number is answered by a recorded voice that says: “Your call is very important to us. Your call will be included in our total number of callers.”)

The volunteers include some who have been with the campaign since it began to organize in March and others who have joined recently, including several who signed up after reading Perot’s best-selling book, “United We Stand.”

Many of the volunteers share a view that Perot should be forgiven for an abrupt exit that causes some people to dismiss him as a thin-skinned quitter. Indeed, many believe that Perot always intended that his departure would be temporary as a way to escape a din of criticism from the press and his political rivals.

“I figured that he had some other plan,” said Maureen Niencek, a real estate broker. “He didn’t want to wade through all the muck and mire. This was a way to avoid it.”

Bill Terry, a retired grocery executive, said: “He didn’t want to be bothered by a lot of people worried about what color underwear he was wearing and how he parted his hair.”

Meanwhile, it was revealed that despite his claims that the United We Stand group is controlled “from the bottom up” by volunteers, Perot has spent more than $7 million to sustain the political movement since he declined to run. A story in today’s Washington Post reported that the money helped finance the hiring of workers to help get Perot’s name on state ballots and was used for paying consultant fees and salaries to state coordinators whose advice he has said will determine whether he jumps into the race.

The Post said campaign finance reports filed by the Perot Petition Committee show that since last March Perot personally has donated more than $16 million to the group. That accounted for nearly 90% of the $18 million the committee reported as donations through August. And four days after abandoning his presidential bid, Perot began writing checks--three totaling $725,000, the campaign reports show.

Perot state coordinators who have been on his payroll included Californian Bob Hayden, who received $7,866, the Post said.