California Group Fueled Final Push For Initiative 200

A conservative California group paid nearly half the cost of the campaign for anti-affirmative action Initiative 200 - $162,000 to fuel the final hectic push to put the issue before the Washington Legislature, state records showed Friday.

The measure would ban the use of racial or gender preferences in state and local government hiring, contracting or college admissions.

The money from the Sacramento-based American Civil Rights Coalition accounts for about 45 percent of the cash raised by the campaign for Initiative 200.

Most of the $373,458 raised by the campaign was used to pay people to gather signatures for the proposal, records at the state Public Disclosure Commission showed. Opponents raised just $37,841 to fight the initiative, records showed.

Secretary of State Ralph Munro is expected next week to certify the measure for consideration by the Legislature; the campaign turned in about 260,000 signatures by the Jan. 2 deadline. If lawmakers fail to pass the measure, it will go to voters in November. Republican legislative leaders have not decided whether to pass the measure or let it go to voters.

It mirrors California’s 1996 voter-passed initiative, which was financed by the parent of the coalition, the American Civil Rights Institute.

The infusion of out-of-state money drew a blast from initiative foes. “We don’t know the exact source of the money, but we do know it is a small group of people with close ties to conservative causes,” said Brian Komar, a spokesman for the Washington D.C.-based Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

“The money just shows that this is not a popular issue in Washington, but an issue promoted by outside money by a small group of individuals,” said Komar, whose group campaigns against anti-affirmative action measures.

Coalition director Jennifer Nelson said to the contrary, the Washington initiative campaign, led by Washington citizens ranging from Seattle talk-radio host John Carlson to state Rep. Scott Smith, R-Graham, was “very much a grassroots effort.”

She said there is nothing wrong with her organization helping “grassroots, localized efforts like Washington’s. We felt it was important to give them support in every way possible.”

Smith also defended the reliance on California money. “They wouldn’t give us a cent until we raised money here, and we did that. Besides, the money has nothing to do with how citizens feel about the initiative. When they’re asked to sign, they’re not told about the out-of-state money. They sign because they want to,” he said.

The initiative campaign has benefited from other outside forces as well.

Billionaire publisher Steve Forbes in December spent thousands of dollars on radio advertisements in the state urging people to sign the initiative petition. William Bennett, former education secretary under President Reagan, came to the state to campaign for the initiative.