Initiative’s Backers, GOP Both Intensify Ad Campaigns

SACRAMENTO —  The television wars over Proposition 209 heated up again Thursday when the initiative’s sponsors and the state Republican Party both launched new commercials to boost the measure.

State Republican Party Chairman John Herrington said the GOP ad will respond to a recent television commercial from opponents of the initiative that features a cross-burning scene and attempts to link proponents with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

“I think it is morally reprehensible,” Herrington said. “It is one of the worst ads I have seen in the history of California politics.”

Proposition 209 seeks to end race and gender preferences in government hiring, contracting and university admissions.

The Republican commercial attacks the opposition by using images and excerpts from recent newspaper editorials critical of the cross-burning ad. The proponents also strongly disavowed Duke’s endorsement of their measure and bitterly protested the implication that they are racist.

Read Scott-Martin, spokesman for the opposition campaign, defended the controversial ad. “You can’t do much about the fact that David Duke came to California to endorse Proposition 209,” he said.

Herrington said the new ad will supplement a television campaign for Proposition 209 that the party launched last week. The previous commercial was designed to advertise President Clinton’s opposition of the ballot measure and, in the process, boost GOP candidates.

Leaders of the Proposition 209 campaign have criticized the Republican Party’s use of their issue.

Ward Connerly, the initiative chairman, called on the GOP Thursday to drop the ad. He also said the initiative sponsors will broadcast three new television ads that attempt to frame the debate around race and gender preferences--not politics.

Two of the ads feature Connerly and co-chairwoman Pam Lewis, a Democratic attorney. Both say the initiative is intended to end “unfair” preferences and to seek laws that provide “equal treatment.”

A third commercial features a San Bernardino community college student who claims she was denied access to an English class because she is white. The case was settled out of court, but college officials have strongly denied the student’s claim.

The initiative campaign declined to reveal how much it expects to spend broadcasting the three new commercials. A spokeswoman said they will be seen in Los Angeles, but she said most of the television time has not yet been purchased and she could not identify any other targeted markets.

In the latest financial reports, the campaign indicated it still had about $409,000 in cash on Oct. 19. Since then, it has reported additional contributions totaling at least $312,000.