Former White House aide Oliver North said Friday he won't rule out a run for Congress, although his conviction in the Iran-Contra affair means he can't hold federal office.
North acknowledged he must first overcome "tremendous legal problems" from the scandal but, in his first speaking appearance since being spared prison time Wednesday, North said he had other matters on his mind."I deeply believe my first responsibility is to my family, which is still at risk from Abu Nidal and the Arab terrorists and the Libyans, both of whom have offered to take me out," he told members of the College Republicans National Committee.
North, 45, was given a three-year suspended sentence, fined $150,000 and ordered to perform 1,200 hours of community service for his role in the Reagan administration's secret scheme to arm the Contras. He will spend two years on probation.
North is willing to perform the community service while appealing three Iran-Contra convictions, his lawyers said Friday.
North's attorneys filed a motion for a stay of the $150,000 fine imposed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell but added that the former White House aide "would like to begin promptly the important community service program ordered by the court."
Gesell placed North on two years' probation and ordered him to perform the community service by helping administer a new program to help District of Columbia youths living in public housing avoid drugs.
In Florida, North spoke to about 400 representatives of GOP clubs in schools throughout the country after a fund-raiser for his defense earlier in the day in Tampa.
Asked if he would have done anything differently while working to aid the Contras, North said, "I deeply believe many people could have done much more to explain the cause of Nicaraguan resistance so that we wouldn't have had the on-again, off-again, up-again, down-again situation in Washington that has been so despicable to those people."
The former Marine was among friends.
"He did absolutely nothing with any criminal intent," said Susan Brackin, the Republican group's executive director. "Of course we're very, very relieved that Col. North will not be spending any time in jail. It would be a complete disgrace for what we consider a national hero to have to spend time in prison."
A group called the Central Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice posted placard-carrying demonstrators outside the Peabody Hotel, where North spoke.
Coalition head Bruce Gagnon said North being spared jail time proves there are two standards of justice in this country, "one for the wealthy and the powerful and one for the common people."
At the unannounced, private event in Tampa, which reportedly raised $80,000 to $90,000, North said he doesn't think too much about the possibility of a presidential pardon.
"We're going to press the appeal, and I'm confident in the outcome," he said.
North was convicted May 4 of obstructing a congressional investigation, destroying documents and illegally accepting a gratuity. He was acquitted on nine other charges.
North earns $20,000 to $25,000 for each speaking appearance. Brackin said her group would donate the proceeds from North's visit to his defense fund.