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Connerly Tries Again With Anti-Affirmative Action Measure

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Christian Palmer, Arizona Capitol Times (Phoenix), May 26, 2009

After failing to qualify an initiative for the 2008 ballot, backers of a measure that aims to stop affirmative action in government hiring and contracting decisions are setting their sights on the 2010 election cycle.

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Now, Connerly, a black man who has successfully pushed initiatives in Michigan and California to outlaw racial and gender-based preference policies, is back at it. The Arizona Civil Rights ballot initiative committee this month has registered with the Secretary of State’s Office in preparation for a 2010 effort.

Part of Connerly’s persistence stems from the historic election of Barack Obama, who in November became the first black president of the United States. That factor, he said, shreds his opponents’ claims that affirmative-action programs are necessary to counter existing racial prejudice.

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And the criticism against Connerly and his efforts has been met with the same vigor. In 2008, opponents hailing from Michigan teamed up with Arizona college students to form By Any Means Necessary, a ballot initiative committee that opposed Connerly’s effort to land the initiative on the ballot.

Several of the group’s 2008 interactions with paid signature-gatherers for the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative were captured on video. On one such video taken on Mill Avenue in Tempe, a man signing a petition was told repeatedly that he is supporting a racist initiative designed to “re-segregate” state universities. The interaction lasted for almost two minutes before the man blurted out “Stop harassing me.”

Another video taken outside Chase Field showed protestors circling around a signature-gatherer and telling passers-by not to sign the petition because it is backed by the Ku Klux Klan.

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, a Phoenix Democrat, formed a coalition called Protect Arizona’s Freedom to oppose Connerly’s 2008 initiative. Sinema’s group filed a lawsuit in August in hopes of keeping the measure from qualifying for the ballot.

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Connerly noted several initiatives were prevented from appearing on the ballot for the same reason in 2008, and he said paid circulation efforts for the initiative produced many duplicate and fictitious names.

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“He would be eliminating programs at community colleges and universities to help women and students of color succeed and enter the marketplace,” [Sinema] said. “Maybe he doesn’t believe we should have those programs.”

This time, Connerly said the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative Committee will seek access to voter registration files in order to validate signatures prior to filing.

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Original article

(Posted on May 27, 2009)

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Comments

1 — Question Diversity wrote at 8:12 PM on May 27:

Some losses are victories in disguise.

The Connerly organization did not come up with enough signatures to put MCRI on Missouri’s general election ballot last year. As it turns out, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because Secretary of State Mrs. Antolinez (better known to most people as Robin Carnahan) messed around with the ballot language such that it would have gotten the votes of far fewer white women than it would have, i.e. it would have said “remove opportunities for women,” or something of the like It would have failed, and the affirmative action junkies would have gloated.

Missouri has a heavily Republican House and Senate. Why not pass MCRI just by plain legislation?

2 — Flamethrower wrote at 8:56 PM on May 27:

Ward Connerly is a better man than most Whites.
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““He would be eliminating programs at community colleges and universities to help women and students of color succeed and enter the marketplace,” [Sinema] said. “Maybe he doesn’t believe we should have those programs.”
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Instead of quotas and handouts, maybe women of color should try a program of study.

3 — Anonymous wrote at 9:42 PM on May 27:

Connerly is well intentioned I suppose, but none of his anti affirmative action measures have ever been enforced. In California, the racism against Whites is worse than it was in the 1990’s and there is no attempt to hide it.

For instance, police recruitment ads show a mix of all races except White.

As soon as I found out that California’s Prop 209 was not being enforced, I began to think that Connerly’s iniatives are false flag operations, you know, get Whites all enthused about a new law and thinking something is being done about anti white racism.

4 — Anglokraut wrote at 11:15 PM on May 27:

Now this is a petition that I’d be happy to sign. I’m not surprised by the description of the scene on Mill Ave, since that is the ASU campus strip and “meat market,” where one can’t walk 20 feet without seeing someone protesting something, and harassing people on the street. Makes the drunk students and bums a little less annoying. These are just a few of the reasons that explain why I hate ASU, apart from their lackluster academics.

5 — Fight the Racists wrote at 3:54 PM on May 28:

Hooray for Ward Connerly. At least he’s doing something. I’ve found that most people don’t know what affirmative action is. They don’t know it’s racist discrimination. My suggestion is to refer to it as discrimination against white, not AA. I’ve found that most of these young college students don’t have a clue of what it is.

6 — exkcresident wrote at 10:01 AM on May 29:

Question Diversity

Mrs. Antolinez? Please explain. I’ve never heard that before. A rhetorical question,but here it is anyway. Were Russ Carnahan and Lacy Clay (not a name I would give my son) ever pilloried as being inexperienced idiots who rode in on their daddy’s coattails to obtain their statuses, like Matt Blunt?

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