\doc\web\98\09\adp03.txt Date sent: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 11:40:05 -0800 Send reply to: AADAP-L-Request@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM From: ADP Subject: Links for November 4, 1998 To: AADAP-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM "Links for November 4, 1998" %%%%%%%%%%% Anti-affirmative action proposal approved in Washington state http://cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/03/election/ballots/affirmative .a ction/index.html November 4, 1998 CNN AllPolitics "The state of Washington has become the second state to abolish most of its government affirmative-action programs, as voters approved "Initiative 200" Tuesday. "Shall government be prohibited from discriminating or granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in public employment, education, and contracting?" the measure asked. Supports say the measure will end discrimination against qualified white males in school districts, state colleges and universities as well as city, county and state governments. But opponents worried that the initiative was too vague and open to interpretation that could end up eliminating welfare-to-work job training and school programs designed to get girls interested in math and science. Although polls showed support for the measure was dropping as Election Day approached, voters ultimately agreed to follow California's lead and abolish public affirmative-action programs." Washington Proposition 200: No Affirmative Action http://cnn.com:80/ELECTION/1998/states/WA/I1/exit.poll.html November 4, 1998 CNN "I-200 exit polls." Affirmative Action Ban Leading in Washington http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/04/201l-110498-idx.htm l November 4, 1998 By William Claiborne & Edward Walsh Washington Post "In a fiercely contested battle that could boost the anti-affirmative action movement in Congress and in states across the country, Washington state appeared poised last night to join California in banning the use of racial and gender preferences in government hiring and contracting and in university admissions…. The most important vote in terms of national implications was the Washington state initiative banning the use of race or gender preferences in government hiring and contracting and in university admissions. Exit polls and early returns showed voters favoring adoption of the ban by a 2 to 1 ratio. The Washington initiative was copied from an initiative passed in California two years ago -- and financed largely by a foundation led by the chief strategist in that battle, University of California regent Ward Connerly. It was seen as a bellwether measure that could encourage similar moves in Congress and in other states. However, if approved, it also appeared likely to attract the same kind of legal challenges that kept California's ban tied up in courts for almost two years." New battle begins: interpreting I-200 http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/affi_110498.html November 4, 1998 By Tom Brune & Joe Heim Seattle Times "Now that the Initiative 200 campaign is over, the battle begins. Across the state, government attorneys and policy-makers today began interpreting how I-200's ban on race and gender preferences will be turned into law. It is an exercise they have 30 days to complete, and it is almost certain to bring lawsuits. Jubilant supporters of the measure declared that the voters' overwhelming approval of I-200 gave them a mandate. They already have begun to map out the next stops in their national crusade against affirmative action. The measure won the support of some 58 percent of the voters, a much higher margin than predicted by pre-election polls. Support for it was so widespread, I-200 won every county in the state except King. Washington is the second state in the country to approve a ballot measure that bans preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity and gender in state- and local-government employment, contracting and education. The campaign, which started as a little-known petition drive 18 months ago, grew to a national issue followed by civil-rights advocates as well as foes of affirmative action." Poll indicates I-200 passage was call for reform http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/poll_110498.html November 4, 1998 By Tom Brune Seattle Times "Washington state voters approved Initiative 200 more to mend affirmative action than to end it. That's the conclusion of a Seattle Times Washington Poll of likely voters, done on the eve of the election. Even in supporting I-200, the poll found, most voters expressed support for affirmative-action programs for minorities and women but said those programs were in need of reform. And despite I-200 opponents' claim that voters were confused by the ballot measure, the poll found that most understood its gist and that their votes reflected their feelings about affirmative action and policies of preference. Typical was Warren Fulton, 46, an environmental consultant from Woodinville. "I see this as actually making a positive change. This could change how people are chosen, particularly by government and schools," said Fulton, 46, who voted for the measure." Big victories for Murray and I-200 http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/elec_110498.html November 4, 1998 By David Postman & Barbara A. Serrano Seattle Times "…Both sides credited the scandal for a surprisingly strong showing by Democrats in an off-year election, including re-electing U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, adding two members to Washington's congressional delegation, reclaiming the state Senate and chipping away at what was a strong Republican majority in the state House. But, displaying their independence, voters also overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure Democrats had worked feverishly to defeat: Initiative 200, which will roll back affirmative action in state and local government and public colleges and universities. With the exception of raising the minimum wage, voters showed something of a libertarian bent by siding with less government, loosening restrictions on marijuana, turning down new restrictions on abortion and striking laws that give preferences to women and minorities." Women, minorities give Boxer boost http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/0 4/ senate.dtl November 4, 1998 By Zachary Coile San Francisco Examiner "Women and minorities came out in huge numbers to back Sen. Barbara Boxer, giving the Democrat a re-election victory with a surprisingly comfortable margin. The race, expected to be an election-night cliffhanger, became a 10-point runaway for Boxer in an election in which Democrats regained the governor's seat and swept every open statewide contest. Fueled by a multi-million-dollar barrage of mostly negative campaign ads, Boxer outpolled Republican state Treasurer Matt Fong by 53 percent to 43 percent. Dismissed by her opponent and some analysts as too liberal for California, Boxer won with strong support from voters in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. But the former Marin County congresswoman also polled nearly even in the Central Valley and Southern California suburbs, where pre-election polls had shown Fong with an advantage." Dornan Loses New Bid for Congress http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/11/ 04 /MN47626.DTL November 4, 1998 By Jonathan Curiel San Francisco Chronicle "The second time around was even less kind to Robert Dornan. In the costliest congressional race in the nation this year, Anaheim Democrat Loretta Sanchez defeated Dornan for the second time in two years. With more than half the precincts reporting, Sanchez held a decisive lead over her rival. Sanchez won the seat in 1996 in one of the most unexpected upsets in recent congressional history, beating Dornan by fewer than 1,000 votes. A political novice at the time, Sanchez came from practically nowhere to defeat Dornan, a nine-term congressman known as ``B-1 Bob'' because of his staunch support for the B-1 bomber and other military programs. In campaign stops this year, Dornan was billing himself as ``the true Latino candidate'' because he opposes abortion rights, unlike Sanchez." Dems poured big bucks into final get-out-the-vote drive http://cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/03/election/overview/getoutvote / November 4, 1998 By Carin Dessauer CNN "Democrats spent more than $30 million on a massive 11th-hour get-out-the-vote effort, including, for the first time, taped telephone messages from the president, first lady and vice president in 30 states. "We focused like a laser beam on the voters we knew that had to turn and we used repetitive contacts -- three, four, five, six, seven and eight times -- to targeted demographic groups," a senior party official told CNN. "We targeted numerous demographic groups including Latinos, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, African Americans and women." In one of the targeted telephone calls, Hillary Rodham Clinton urged African-American voters to vote." Democrats Get Out the Black Vote, Door-by-Door http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/04/161l-110498-idx.htm l November 4, 1998 By Donald P. Baker Washington Post "Thousands of volunteers, calling themselves "votebusters," fanned out in Prince George's and Montgomery counties and the City of Baltimore yesterday, "flushing out" reluctant voters in a massive get-out-the-vote effort that defied predictions of voter apathy. Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening was the main beneficiary of the effort, which was most evident in overwhelmingly black precincts. Glendening supporters bombarded those precincts with phone calls, leaflets and face-to-face appeals, all of which portrayed Republican nominee Ellen R. Sauerbrey as an opponent of civil rights. It was a message that seemed to resonate. Black voters interviewed outside polling places indicated they not only approved of Glendening's performance the last four years but were concerned what might happen if Sauerbrey prevailed. Stephen Akinnibi, 46, a Gaithersburg business consultant and native of Nigeria who was voting for the first time, said Glendening "reached out to the minorities. He has a good record with the minority community. He has done a good job in general."" Steele stands his ground as a black conservative http://www.jsonline.com:80/letsgo/daily/1104steele.stm November 4, 1998 By Jamaal Abdul-Alim Journal Sentinel "As a black conservative who grew up during the Civil Rights era, Shelby Steele knows he is an outcast of sorts among today's black intelligentsia. He also knows his latest book, "A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America," will do little to raise the lowly status bestowed on him by his peers. So Steele has high hopes that his latest treatise on black conservative thought will be picked up by today's black youth, and that it will inspire them to embark upon a radical departure from the norm. "The black conservative, as I define it, is the avant-garde," Steele said in a recent phone interview. "He's the new idealist." Steele, an English professor and author of the critically acclaimed "The Content of Our Character," is often criticized for the hostile stance he takes toward various man-made remedies -- not the least of which is affirmative action -- that many trust will bring a sense of racial equilibrium to a society that has never really achieved any balance in this regard." Racial Discussions Are Mostly for Whites http://www.mostnewyork.com:80/1998-11-04/News_and_Views/Opinion/a-9864.asp November 4, 1998 OPINION New York Daily News "When I wrote here last week about a discussion of the Haitian revolution I attended recently, I noted that despite some of the nonsense that was spoken, this black-run event was well integrated. That stands in strong contrast to the screening I later attended for the new racial melodrama "American History X" - plus several other experiences I've had recently. One experience was a party celebrating the 35th anniversary of The New York Review of Books. Of the perhaps 200 people there, I saw only eight Negroes, and four of them were workers in the publication's mailroom or circulation department. How strange that here, in the nation's capital of intellectual seriousness, this high-quality literary review couldn't do any better than that. But then, why should it? An influential black writer like Albert Murray has never been the subject of a review in the publication, even though he has written nine books since 1970. A flawed masterpiece like Leon Forrest's "Divine Days " wasn't reviewed either. And so it goes." [The following links are to paid subscription web sites] Washington Voters Approve a Ban on Racial Preferences http://www.chronicle.com/daily/98/11/98110401n.htm November 4, 1998 By Patrick Healy Chronicle of Higher Education "To the disappointment of many college leaders around the United States, Washington State voters on Tuesday approved a measure to bar their public universities from using racial preferences to admit students, hire employees, or award contracts. Washington was one of 19 states where voters decided ballot measures of interest to academe. With 85 per cent of the precincts reporting, 58 per cent of Washington voters had approved the measure known as I-200, which will ban the use of preferences by public higher education and other agencies of state government. Opponents of I-200 signaled that they would go to court to block it from taking effect. If the measure does become law, however, the University of Washington and other public institutions plan to stop using preferences in admissions and other programs. Officials at the University of Washington believe that I-200 could cause a 15-per-cent decline in the numbers of black and Hispanic freshmen there. Deans of the university's law school and other programs fear similar drops." Eroding Elections http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB910046230865180000.htm November 3, 1998 The Wall Street Journal "While everyone wrings their hands a lot these days about voter turnout, there is a real and present danger that voter fraud is slowly undermining the legitimacy of more and more elections. "Voter fraud is much more common than people believe, because they think it no longer exists," says the University of Virginia's Larry Sabato. "The fraud perpetrators depend on people remaining unaware." As CBS's "60 Minutes" pointed out on Sunday, security procedures have not kept pace with efforts to make voting easier. Since almost all states operate on the honor system and don't require photo ID, it's fairly easy to vote in the name of dead people, vote if you're an illegal alien, falsify an absentee ballot or vote more than once. Two years ago, groups using federal funds registered hundreds of non-citizens in Orange County, Calif. The House Oversight Committee found that at least 747 votes were cast illegally in the photo-finish election of Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who won by only 984 votes. But little has changed. House Oversight came up with the names of 1,499 voters who should be removed from the rolls, but election officials claim it's too late to purge them for today's election. This month, the Los Angeles County registrar identified 16,000 phony registrations submitted by two groups aligned with the Democratic Party." The Bard, Barred http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB910127675278003000.htm November 4, 1998 OPINION By Naomi Schaefer The Wall Street Journal ""The feminists are offended by the selection [sic] works from a sexist European canon that is approached traditionally." So wrote Lin Wright, then chairman of the theater department at Arizona State University, in a 1996 letter to professor Jared Sakren, warning him to shape up or ship out. Later that year, after a number of these warnings, Mr. Sakren was fired for relying too heavily on the "sexist European canon." Shakespeare, in particular. We're used to hearing such politically correct sentiments from professors at the nation's top universities. Although less widely publicized, they are also commonplace at state institutions. And the tentacles of political correctness have spread far beyond literature, history and the social sciences. In 1994 ASU hired Mr. Sakren, then a director at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, to "establish a nationally respected actor training program." Mr. Sakren had an impressive résumé, having trained the movie actors Annette Bening, Kelly McGillis and Val Kilmer, among others." Minorities see ups, downs in results http://cnn.com:80/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/03/election/overview/minorit ie s.ap/ November 4, 1998 By Kalpana Srinivasan Associated Press "Blacks lost their sole seat in the Senate on Tuesday, as Republican Peter Fitzgerald trumped Democratic incumbent Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun in a down-to-the-wire race in Illinois. The first black woman elected to the Senate, and only the second black senator since Reconstruction, Moseley-Braun came in during the landmark "Year of the Woman" in 1992. The last black senator was Edward Brooke, a two-term Republican from Massachusetts who left in 1979. The only other black major party nominee for Senate, former Rep. Gary Franks, R-Conn., failed to steal away the tightly held Senate seat of three-term Democrat Christopher Dodd. Other minority incumbents successfully fought off challengers. In Hawaii, Asian-American Democrat Daniel Inouye retained the Senate seat he was first elected to in 1962. The Senate's lone Native American, Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, also kept his seat." ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙ AADAP-L, a free, moderated email list with daily postings, is a project of Americans Against Discrimination and Preferences (http://www.aadap.org). You can subscribe, unsubscribe, or get information on AADAP-L by sending electronic mail to LISTSERV@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM. In the message body (not the header), type the following commands (capitalized text only): SUBSCRIBE AADAP-L [to subscribe] SIGNOFF AADAP-L [to unsubscribe] INFO AADAP-L [to receive more information on the list] Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested.