Recall Candidates Oppose Proposition 54
Sunday , September 07, 2003
LOS ANGELES — The two leading candidates vying to replace Gov. Gray Davis (search) are taking aim at another issue on the Oct. 7 recall ballot: Proposition 54 (search), which seeks to limit what racial data the government can collect.
Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (search) was expected to announce Sunday that he would pour nearly $4 million into a campaign to defeat the measure. And Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger (search), who previously refused to take a position on the measure, said Saturday he opposed it.
"There is no way we can match that," Proposition 54's backer, Ward Connerly, said in Sunday's Los Angeles Times.
The University of California regent acknowledged the measure would likely be defeated.
Opponents say the initiative would undermine civil rights enforcement because it would stop the collection of statistics that could show a pattern of discrimination in anything from schooling to law enforcement. Connerly has said statistics can't prove discrimination, and that it's time to stop being so race conscious.
Schwarzenegger, speaking to Spanish language station KUVS-TV in Sacramento, said he believes it is necessary to collect racial data for use in such fields as health and education.
"If you take that out, it will be disastrous," he said.
Bustamante's $4 million to campaign against the measure would come from contributions he has received from labor unions and Indian tribes that support his bid to replace Davis if the governor is recalled, the Times said.
The Democrat was expected to announce his campaign against the measure Sunday during a rally with farm workers in his hometown of Fresno.
Bustamante came under attack from several quarters last week when the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians announced it was giving him approximately $2 million. The tribe operates a lucrative casino in San Diego County.
Pouring $4 million into the campaign to defeat Proposition 54 would not only put Bustamante firmly on the side of the civil rights groups that oppose the measure, but could also remove some of the heat he has been taking for using what critics call a loophole to accept campaign contributions from Indian gambling interests that far exceed the state limit of $21,200.
He has been able to accept the large amounts by placing them into his 2002 re-election campaign account, which was created before the tougher limits went into effect.
Davis on Saturday received two bursts of Democratic support as he gave his party's national weekly radio address and was endorsed by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, one of its leading presidential candidates.
Dean joined Davis in Los Angeles to say he was proud to back Davis despite the governor's record low poll ratings.
"I don't care," Dean said at a meeting of Asian-Pacific American political activists. "My trademark is I say what I think, for better or worse. ... I'm pleased to be here, and I'm proud to be here."
Also Saturday, Republican recall candidate Peter Ueberroth, the former baseball commissioner, unveiled a job-creation plan he said would give businesses cash or tax credits for every new job they create in the state. He said he would appoint an unpaid jobs commissioner to oversee the program.
Bustamante leads in most polls among the 135 candidates vying to replace Davis if the governor is recalled. Schwarzenegger leads among the Republicans |
