Affirmative action foe finds allies

Contractors supply most of the $77,652 raised in the early stages of Ward Connerly's effort.

By LUCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 1999

TALLAHASSEE -- 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.

A report filed this week with the State Division of Elections indicates the Florida Civil Rights Initiative committee received most of its money from the state's general contractors. The contractors want to end preferential treatment based on race for awarding government contracts.

The Associated General Contractors Council in Tallahassee contributed $34,600 to the cause, and its South Florida branch tossed in another $20,000. Fort Lauderdale contractor James A. Cummings Inc. donated $9,000, and Hendrick Brothers Construction of West Palm Beach donated $2,500.

Leon Russell, state NAACP president, said he was not surprised that much of the money has come from contractors.

"Their motivation is greed," Russell said in a telephone interview from New York, where he is attending the national NAACP convention. "They are willing to spend a lot of money to keep minorities and women out."

Russell said he had feared Connerly would have collected more by now. He hopes the GOP has discouraged donors from giving.

"I would really like to see the governor come out and ask Florida business people not to contribute to the campaign," Russell added. "That would really show us that the Republican Party is open to minorities."

Harmon said the group expects to raise and spend about $100,000 in its initial stage. Once it's determined whether the Supreme Court will approve the ballot language as a single initiative or force them to pursue multiple ballot questions, the fundraising and promotional campaign will begin in earnest, Harmon said.

The broad amendment would ban preferences based on race and ethnicity in university admissions and in government contracting and hiring. In case the Florida Supreme Court rejects the general wording, the group also is gathering signatures for a separate amendment that would ban preferential treatment based on race in contracting, another that would ban it in public employment and a third that would ban it in education.

Harmon said the contractors have agreed to come up with the $100,000 needed to gain Supreme Court consideration of the ballot issue. In the past, many ballot proposals have been rejected by the court for violating a law that requires such initiatives to consist of a single subject.

Other contributions reported include $2,000 from Peter Blitzer, of Aventura, and a total of $3,000 from Hewitt Contracting Co. and its owner, Howard Hewitt, of Leesburg. Most of the 116 contributions Connerly reports receiving came in installments of $100 or less from contractors and builders around the state.

Connerly reported no out-of-state contributions and indicated he has spent $56,141. That figure includes $25,000 to Arno Political Consulting of Gold River, Calif., and $14,000 to National Voter Outreach Service, Carson City, Nev. Initial expenditures also included the cost of developing a Web site that allows voters to download a petition to sign so it can be mailed in, making the ballot initiative one of the first to take advantage of the growth of the Internet. (www.fcri.net).

The Florida NAACP has helped form a coalition of groups -- Floridians for Responsibility, Equity and Equality, or FREE -- to oppose the amendment and offer an alternative that would preserve affirmative action.

Sen. Daryl Jones, D-Miami, is heading up the legal team that is drafting the alternative amendment. On Wednesday, Jones said he was not surprised to learn that almost all of the money Connerly has raised is coming from South Florida contractors.

Jones said he thinks those contractors are the ones who have the most to lose when Dade County awards several billion dollars in construction contracts over the next few years. Only Dade County tries to give 13 percent of all contracts to minorities, Jones said.

Jones said he thinks Connerly's petition will be rejected by the courts because it does not disclose its impact on Dade County to voters. Connerly's proposal would never pass in Dade County but might win statewide voter approval, he added.

"This gives us a tremendous opportunity to educate Floridians about how bad we are doing and let people know we'll do better as a state if we find ways to make the poor and under privileged more prosperous," Jones added. "He wants to end affirmative action; we just want to mend it."

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