Ward Connerly Points Florida Campaign to 2002!
Byzantine state initiative laws and a politicized State Supreme Court help delay equal rights 2 more years!

May 8, 2000

(TALLAHASSEE) – On a three-day trip up and down Florida starting today, Ward Connerly announced that the Florida Civil Rights Initiative (FCRI) campaign to end race and gender preferences would aim for the Fall 2002 instead of this year’s ballot.

          "We are redirecting our focus from 2000 to 2002 for two reasons," explained Connerly.

          "First of all, there is still a need to end preferences in Florida because, regretfully, Governor Jeb Bush’s One Florida Initiative is woefully inadequate as it leaves, untouched, state law and local policies that give preferences on the basis of race and gender. Preferences and other forms of race-conscious policies simply have been restructured under ‘One Florida.’

          "Secondly, we are continuing our campaign through the 2002 election cycle because eight months after we’ve dutifully submitted our signatures, six months after the signatures have been verified and two months after the Florida Supreme Court has heard oral arguments on the initiative, the Court as of today still has not given FCRI the green light."

          "The initiative review process in Florida is nothing short of outrageous," continued Connerly, "but we are committed to navigating this byzantine labyrinth because we are focused on the end goal of ending preferences in Florida, even if it takes another two years."

          Florida law allows petition signatures to remain valid for up to four years, and if the Court approves one or more of the four versions currently under review, FCRI can build on the 50,000 signatures it already has, towards the 435,000 mark for qualification. Connerly has said that if the Court strikes down all four versions of the initiative, backers will redraft the initiative after the Court’s decision.

          Given the drawn-out verification process demonstrated last fall by local county elections supervisors, FCRI was facing an August 8 statutory deadline but established a self-imposed signature-submission deadline of the first week of June. Connerly decided that it was impossible to gather close to half a million signatures in the remaining four weeks before FCRI’s internal deadline.

          "I am spending the next three days to personally remobilize and rededicate our efforts in Florida as we gear up for a long-term campaign," announced Connerly as leaves Tallahassee for Orlando tomorrow and then Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach thereafter. 

Contact the Florida Civil Rights Initiative at:
          Florida Civil Rights Initiative
          Post Office Box 10875
          Tallahassee, Florida 32302
          (web site no longer active as of 10/27/02)

End of Florida Initiative Delayed to 2002