The vox populi saw things slightly differently. In the number of telegrams received by
the White House, Goldwater was way ahead with 2280 in his favor, and only 102 against.
Bush had 887 for him and 92 against. Rocky had 544 in favor, and a whopping 3202
against. [fn 9]
But even here, the Bush network had been totally mobilized, with a very large effort in
the Dallas business community, among black Republicans, and by law firms with links to
the Zionist lobby. Ward Lay of Frito-Lay joined with Herman W. Lay to support Bush.
The law firm of McKenzie and Baer of Dallas assured Ford that Bush was "Mr. Clean."
There was a telegram from Charles Pistor of the Republic National Bank of Dallas, and
many others.
The all court press applied by the Bush machine also generated bad blood. Rockefeller
supporter Tom Evans, a former RNC co-chair, wrote to Ford with the observation that
"no one should campaign for the position and I offer these thoughts only because of an
active campaign that is being conducted on George Bush's behalf which I do not believe
properly reflects Republican opinion." Evans was more substantive than most
recommendations: "Certainly one of the major issues confronting our country at this time
is the economy and the related problems of inflation, unemployment, and high interest
rates. I respectfully suggest that you need someonme who can help substantively in these
areas. George is great at PR but he is not as good in substantive matters. This opinion can
be confirmed by individuals who held key positions at the National Committee." Evans
also argued that Bush should have put greater distance between the GOP and Nixon
sooner than he did. [fn 10]
So Nelson's networks were not going to take the Bush strong-arm approach lying down.
Bush's most obvious vulnerability was his close relationship to Nixon, plus the fact that
he had been up to his neck in Watergate. It was lawful that Bush's ties to one of Nixon's
slush funds came back to haunt him. This was the "Townhouse" fund again, the one
managed by Jack A. Gleason and California attorney Herbert W. Kalmbach, Nixon's
personal lawyer, who had gained quite some personal notoriety during the Watergate
years. These two had both pleaded guilty earlier in 1974 to running an illegal campaign
fun-raising operation, with none of the required reports ever filed.
By August 19, the even of Ford's expected announcement, the Washington Post reported
that unnamed White House sources were telling Newsweek magazine that Bush's vice
presidential bid "had slipped badly because of alleged irregularities in the financing of his
1970 Senate race in Texas." Newsweek quoted White House sources that "there was
potential embarrassment in reports that the Nixon White House had funneled about
$100,000 from a secret fund called the 'Townhouse Operation' into Bush's losing Senate
campaign against Democrat Lloyd Bentsen four years ago." Newsweek also added that
$40,000 of this money may not have been properly reported under the election laws.
Bush was unavailable for comment that day, and retainers James Bayless and C. Fred
Chambers scrambled to deliver plausible denials, but the issue would not go away.