Florida State Civil Rights Initiative
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          "Contractors are forced to pass over small companies that do not happen to be owned by minorities or women, Douglas said. "Everybody calls them goals but they are really quotas, because if you don't meet them, you don't get the contract," said Douglas. "We are saying if there is going to be a program to help small business, it should be open to everybody."

          "Supporters of Connerly's bid have collected about 43,500 petition signatures as of late last week, according to Douglas. So far, the signatures have been gathered at shopping malls, sporting events, and fairs in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Jacksonville and Orlando.

          "The signatures still need to be authenticated by elections officials in the counties they were collected.

          "While Connerly has gained dollars and momentum, he has a long way to go before winning Florida to his cause.

          "The Florida Supreme Court will review the ballot initiative wording. If justices approve the question, Connerly's campaigners will set out to gather 435,000 signatures statewide, enough to finally push the measure onto the November 2000 ballot.

          "A majority vote among Floridians -- 50 percent plus one -- would make the measure law.  'I do think that you have to qualify for what you get, and not get it just because of race,' said Matt Gracey, 85, of Delray Beach, who donated $30 to the Civil Rights Initiative.   'Because you're black or Indian, you can get privileges I or my children couldn't get,' he said.

          "Don Darpino, 87, of Fort Lauderdale, donated $15 to the cause.  'I'm against affirmative action,' he said.   'I think everyone should be treated equally,' he said, adding that women and minorities have made enough gains. 'I think they're doing quite well.'"   (Florida Sun-Sentinel 08/02/99 by Jody A. Benjamin and Christine Walker)
[link http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/daily/detail/0,1136,21000000000106071,00.html ]

Affirmative action foe finds allies (07/15/99)
          "Ward Connerly, the Californian who wants Florida voters to end affirmative action, has raised $77,652 toward his drive to gather the 435,000 signatures he'll need to get the issue on the ballot. Herb Harmon, the campaign manager for the initiative, said the group projects spending about $1-million to get the issue on the 2000 general election ballot. Some political observers say it might cost as much as $5-million. Connerly spent about $3.7-million on a successful 1996 campaign to pass a similar measure in California. In Florida, though, the state Republican Party has asked many of its traditional donors to not contribute to Connerly's effort. GOP Gov. Jeb Bush called Connerly's effort "divisive" and has asked Connerly to stay away. Harmon said Wednesday the money raised so far is about what organizers expected to collect for the first phase of their campaign. Their first goal is to collect more than 40,000 voter signatures to get the Florida Supreme Court to review their proposals for the 2000 ballot."  (St. Petersburg Times 07/15/99 by Lucy Morgan)
[link http://www.sptimes.com/News/71599/State/Affirmative_action_fo.shtml ]

Individuals join campaign to ban affirmative action (07/14/99 - dead link)
          TALLAHASSEE -- "A small group of retirees from Homestead to Margate are joining forces with deep-pocket building contractors to fuel a statewide campaign to ban affirmative action in Florida.

          "Responding to California businessman Ward Connerly's plea to stamp out preference programs based on race, gender or ethnic background in local and state government hiring and contracting, some 30 South Floridians have written checks for the cause ranging from $10 to $500.

          "'I feel after 30 years and two generations it's time to put an end to it,' said [a] 71-year-old grandmother and retired postal worker from Margate.  'It's not only no longer necessary but it's been misused. I think all minorities should be treated as fairly as possible without going overboard.'

          "Air Force retiree and Homestead resident Joseph Stringer sent along $20 after he received a fund-raising letter from Connerly.  'I'm against discrimination and affirmative action discriminates,' said Stringer, 70.  'I don't think it's fair. I think that everyone should have an equal opportunity and no one should be guaranteed success.'"  (Miami Herald 07/14/99 by Lesley Clark)
[former link **http://www.herald.com/content/wed/news/florida/digdocs/051929.htm]

Racial-preference fight divides state (07/11/99 - dead link)
          "[Ward] Connerly has been eyeing Florida -- whose population is 26 percent minority -- since 1997. Proponents consider Florida, with its racially and ethnically diverse population and its "big state" image, a must win. And several polls show that if the issue comes before Florida voters, it is likely to pass.  'Connerly has stated it would be easier to go to Colorado. But this is a national effort. If we are successful in Florida, it would open the floodgates in the rest of the country,' said Herb Harmon, Florida campaign manager.

          "However, Florida's floodgates are bolted with heavy locks -- at least in the initial phase of a petition process. Unlike in California and Washington, FCRI faces significant legal hurdles, which must be cleared before the measure can go before voters.

          "The obstacles include gathering more than 43,000 state signatures before the state Supreme Court can decide if the petition violates the Constitution. The state requires that a ballot initiative stick to one issue. But race, ethnicity and gender may be considered more than one subject. The same may be true of the proposed petition's three areas of focus: state public hiring, contracting and education.

          "The ballot must be written in unambiguous language, a sore point with opponents who allege Connerly's group misleads voters by using the term "civil rights." If FCRI passes these tests, organizers must go back and collect nearly 500,000 more signatures to get on the ballot.

          "The NAACP proposes its own ballot initiative giving the state additional power to correct past racial inequities, according to Leon Russell, state NAACP president. The national NAACP has pledged $50,000 to the state group, an amount equal to the NAACP's contribution to its Washington affiliate last year.

          "Gov. Jeb Bush has stated he is against preferences and has met with Connerly. But he has distanced himself from the issue, saying it is "divisive." Earlier this year, Bush said he didn't think preferential treatment was a problem in Florida.

          "Politics aside, preferences appear to strike a discordant note with the public. A poll by The Orlando Sentinel conducted in April showed that 45 percent of state voters would ban affirmative action, 35 percent would not and 20 percent were undecided. About 67 percent of blacks were opposed, Hispanics were split 38 percent for and 38 percent against, 24 percent undecided and women 43 percent in favor.

          "Racial and ethnic preferences often are called affirmative action, although the two are not the same. Affirmative action refers to "positive steps" taken by companies and government -- for example, review and re-evaluation of policies -- to assure they are not discriminating against certain groups that are legally protected by the federal Civil Rights Act. This includes blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans and women.

          "Support for affirmative action often is higher than for preferential treatment, which may involve meeting numerical goals.

          "In a March poll conducted in Florida by the Sacramento, Calif.-based American Civil Rights Institute, 83 percent said they supported a ban on preferential treatment. Backing was high among all groups, including blacks (79 percent), Hispanics (80 percent) and women (82 percent). The institute was founded by Connerly."

          In the table below, The Orlando Sentinel examines the demographics and voting patterns pertaining to the successful California Proposition 209 initiative, as well as the successful Washington State Initiative 200:

(Story and table excerpted from The Orlando Sentinel 07/11/99, written by Maria T. Padilla)
[former link **http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/071199_affirm11_19.htm]

Pro-Quota Forces Urge Connerly to "Spare Florida a Prop. 209 Stink" (06/09/99)
          "IF WARD CONNERLY has an ounce of good sense he will give up the idea of inflicting on Florida the kind of divisive initiative campaign he led against affirmative action in California. That may be too much to ask, since the Sacramento businessman has vowed to go national with his strong aversion to minority "preferences" as an offset to discrimination. But Connerly has encountered a little problem in the Sunshine State that should give him pause. Leaders of both major parties, including Gov. Jeb Bush and other Republicans Connerly had counted on for support, prefer that he get lost with his Florida version of Proposition 209, which outlaws affirmative action by state and local government to aid minorities here. The governor wrote Connerly that "a bitter political campaign that divides Florida by race or ethnicity" would keep it from focusing on "more pressing issues."

          Connerly's campaign is a potential problem for both Jeb Bush and his older brother, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who is planning to run for president. Both Bushes espouse a Republicanism that reaches out to minorities. Their states have particularly large Latino constituencies. The wedge politics practiced by former California Gov. Pete Wilson and Connerly, his ally on the UC Board of Regents, is not the Bush recipe."  (San Francisco Chronicle Opinion 06/09/99)
[link http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/06/08/EDITORIAL6260.dtl ]

Affirmative Action Ban Meets a Wall in Florida (06/07/99 - dead link)
          MIAMI, Fla. – "Ward Connerly, who campaigned successfully to end affirmative action in government hiring and school admissions in California and Washington State, has now aimed his crusade at Florida, to the sound of slamming doors."

          Race-conscious politicans in Florida, both Republican and Democrat, really want those crucial minority votes in 2000, and they are terrified of offending any priveleged minority group.  

          According to this obviously pro-quota editorial in the New York Times: "Connerly has brought his divisive issue to the doorstep of Gov. Jeb Bush just as his older brother, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, is preparing to enter the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. The issue could, political experts say, create cracks in the national Republican Party's ranks, just as the Bush brothers are working to unify them, and hamper efforts to draw in disaffected Democrats in time for the election. The timing of his campaign was no coincidence, concedes Connerly, 60, the chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute and a regent of the University of California system. ... "There is no better forum" for debating affirmative action, he said, "than a presidential campaign." ... While it would certainly not be the deciding issue in the 2000 campaign, the initiative could create political problems for the Bush brothers, say political experts and Connerly himself.  The brothers ran campaigns that "reached out to people" other than to the white, conservative Republicans, even as they tried to retain the party's core supporters, Moreno said.  If the proposition gets onto the ballot in Florida, he said, it would "undermine the Bush message, by both brothers, at the national level."  But Connerly said:  "I want this to be part of the presidential debate.  It scares the hell out of Jeb Bush, because he doesn't want it on the ballot when his brother runs for office."

          "Connerly expects more hurdles to get his proposition on the ballot, including state election guidelines that insist that such initiatives be on a single subject.   Calling for an end to affirmative action* on the basis of race and sex, for instance, could violate that guideline.  But those are just details, for a true believer."   (Based on New York Times 06/07/99 by Rick Bragg)   [[*Note:  The FCRI does not seek to end affirmative action.  It seeks only to end the use of racial and gender preferences and quotas.  The use of the phrase affirmative action is a deliberate ploy to scare voters into voting against the initiative.  Editor.]
[former link **http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/fla-connerly.html]

Affirmative Action Tears At Fla. GOP; Gov. Bush Moves To Block "Divisive" Ballot Initiative (05/15/99 - dead link)
          (Editor's Note:  This excellent article in the Washington Post 05/15/99 illustrates the depths to which the Republican Party will sink in order to win those all-important minority votes, and the extent to which the Republicans are willing to abandon the constitution's "equal protection" clause as applied to "whites" in the name of bald-faced minority vote pandering.)

          "Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has mobilized Republicans in his state in an effort to keep an anti-affirmative action initiative off the ballot in 2000, wading into an issue that has divided the national party.

          "Ward Connerly, the California businessman who sponsored similar and successful initiatives in his home state and Washington, has brushed aside arguments that more of these efforts would create racial divisiveness at a time the GOP is trying to expand its appeal among minorities. Connerly announced last week that he has begun collecting signatures to put it on the ballot in Florida.

          "The result is that a struggle few Republican strategists welcome is boiling up in a key electoral battleground, drawing in the younger brother of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the early leader in presidential polls for 2000. Several of his conservative rivals for the nomination are clearly on Connerly's side, but some top GOP officials fret that spotlighting the issue with another Connerly initiative may damage the party nationally.

          "Florida Republican Chairman Al Cardenas and his aides have lobbied business groups to withhold financing from the initiative. But Connerly said this week he is pressing ahead, bolstered by a pledge of money from one key group targeted by Jeb Bush, the Florida Associated General Contractors Council."  (Washington Post 05/15/99 page A01 by Terry M. Neal and David S. Broder)
[former link **http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-05/15/000l-051599-idx.html]

Anti-preference activists ready (05/05/99)
          TALLAHASSEE -- "California businessman Ward Connerly is ready to take his [anti-quota/preference] crusade to the mailboxes and shopping centers of Florida.  His Florida Civil Rights Initiative committee will begin gathering signatures in west-central Florida later this month to put up to four proposed amendments to the state Constitution on the November 2000 ballot.

          "Connerly and his followers settled on the exact language on the amendments late last month and are confident they have crafted it carefully enough to withstand strict scrutiny by the state Supreme Court.   The amendments would bar the state from treating people "differently based on race, color, ethnicity, or national origin" in public education, contracts or employment.

          " 'It's clear that we're going to have something on the ballot in the year 2000,' Connerly said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his Sacramento, Calif., office.

         "Connerly's group plans to target three congressional districts in west Central Florida to gather at least 45,000 signatures -- enough to send the amendments to the state Supreme Court for review. If the court approves at least one or even all of the amendments, organizers need to get about 450,000 signatures from registered voters to place each proposal on the ballot."  (St. Petersburg Times 05/05/99 by Peter Wallsten)
[link http://www.sptimes.com/News/50599/State/Anti_preference_activ.shtml ]

Poll results set lines for fierce affirmative action battle (04/08/99 - dead link)
          [Editor's Note:  The Orlando Sentinel's pro-racial preferences bias is obvious in this story.  Not only in the headline, but in the body of the article, author Michael Griffin makes the incorrect assertion that the Florida Initiative seeks to ban affirmative action!  That is simply untrue; the language of the initiative seeks to end racially preferential programs and the use of racial quotas.   Also, the Sentinel fails to disclose if the opinion poll they conducted used the accurate language "seeking to end racial preferences" or if the Sentinel deliberately used the inflammatory, inaccurate and divisive phrase "seeking to end affirmative action."  Interesting omission.  This could be why their poll results are so different than the results of Ward Connerly's Florida poll on the same issue. ]

Orlando Sentinel - "The campaign to ban affirmative action in Florida's universities, government employment and state contracts is supported by 45 percent of the state's voters, an Orlando Sentinel opinion poll shows.  The survey, released Wednesday, also shows that 35 percent oppose the move to change Florida's Constitution to ban affirmative action, and 20 percent are undecided.

          "The poll -- particularly the relatively large percentage of undecided voters -- is seen as good news by the California organization working to place an anti-affirmative action referendum before Florida voters in next year's elections.

          "The Sacramento-based American Civil Rights Institute and its founder, Ward Connerly, are credited with toppling racial-preference programs in California and Washington are now targeting Florida. Backed by the state's building contractors, supporters could spend as much as $2 million to get the question on the ballot."  (Orlando Sentinel 04/08/99 by Michael Griffin)
[former link **http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/legislature/s040899_affirm08_20.htm]

80% Plus in Florida Want to End Racial Preferences (03/31/99)
          "Floridians were recently asked if they supported the following statement: ''The government shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.''

          "The poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, found 83 percent were in agreement.   That was a strong repudiation of the state's policy that discriminates in favor of women and minorities in hiring, contracts and college admissions.

          "79% of all African Americans said they wanted to end racial preferences, as did 80% of Hispanics and 82% percent of all women.

          "U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, told a reporter that people were misled by a tricky question."   Corrine:  Which part of the question didn't you understand? (Florida Times-Union, 03/31/99 Editorial)
[link http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3701efc73b25.htm ]

80% of Floridians Say "Yes" - End Racial Preferences and Quotas!  (03/30/99) (no link)
          The anti-racial quota initiative in Florida released the results of a state-wide poll showing that over 80% of Floridians from all walks of life want to end the state's use of racial quotas and racial preferences.   In its coverage of this news, the Tampa Tribune wants the reader to believe that the 80% figure is the result of trick wording. 

          But the Tribune was forced to admit:  "The poll question was nearly identical to ballot language approved in referendums in California and Washington.  Connerly hopes to use the same language in Florida.  It asked voters if they support or oppose a measure saying, ``The government shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, color, gender, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public contracting or public education.''

          David Bositis of the Joint Center (a race-polling expert) was quoted as saying "If you can get that language on the ballot, it probably will pass.''  (Tampa Tribune, 03/30/99, by William March) (no link)

Politicians Wary of Race Initiative (03/28/99)
          "Florida's leading black Democrats don't mince words when they describe California businessman Ward Connerly's war on [racial quotas and racial preferences]: divisive, mean-spirited, racist. But underlying the attacks is a hidden truth: If Connerly gets his initiative on next year's ballot, the unexpected political beneficiaries could be Democratic candidates seeking office at the same time. Connerly's agenda could have the dual effect of energizing the Democratic Party's most loyal voters -- African-Americans -- and undermining the Republican Party's efforts to reach beyond its traditional base of white, conservative voters. "There ain't nothing about this that's good for us right now," said Tom Slade, the former state Republican Party chairman who now works as a consultant and lobbyist."   (St. Petersburg Times, 03/28/99, by Peter Wallstein)
[link http://www.sptimes.com/News/32899/State/Politicians_wary_of_r.html ]

Word-twisting pros work overtime in attacks against Connerly (03/25/99 - dead link)
          "Ward Connerly, the California regent who engineered the end of affirmative action in California and Washington, is starting a similar campaign in Florida. What's interesting is the nature of attacks leveled against him by the political establishment.

          "Florida's new Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and its old Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Graham accused Connerly of being divisive.   Here's where the Orwellian newsspeak comes in. The man who wishes to eliminate making decisions based on race, ethnic background or sex is accused of being divisive by the people who wish to maintain a system that is racist, sexist and ethnically jingoistic.

          "Whereas Connerly's position is that race should not be a factor in admissions, hiring, promoting or awarding contracts, Bush maintains that race should be a factor in all of that.  Well, guess what? Connerly's position is consistent with that of Dr. Martin Luther King. Bush's and Graham's position is consistent with that of the late George Wallace before he had second thoughts."  (Orlando Sentinel, 03/25/99,by Charley Reese)
[former link **http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/columnists/reese/032599_reese25_21.htm]

END of Older Florida Initiative 2000 News Archives (2 of 3)