> 8/21/99 -- 10:47 PM
>
>Bush finds himself in racial duel
>By WILLIAM MARCH of The Tampa Tribune
>
>
> TAMPA - Gov. Jeb Bush seeks to balance minority-friendly
> politics with his core conservative constituency.
>
> A lawsuit over political boundaries in South Florida
> has put Gov. Jeb Bush, for the second time in a week, in
> a place he doesn't want to be: caught in the middle of a racial squabble.
>
> Neither argument - the lawsuit over the boundaries
> of legislative districts or a fight over a petition drive
> to abolish affirmative action - is of Bush's making.
>
> But in both cases, he's caught between maintaining
> his image as a minority- friendly, inclusive Republican,
> and placating his core conservative supporters. They tend
> to oppose both affirmative action and the racially engineered
> ``minority access'' legislative districts at issue in the lawsuit.
>
> Bush's unofficial status as a surrogate for his brother -
> presidential candidate George W. Bush, a proponent of ``compassionate
>conservative'' politics - adds heat to the fire.
>
> The lawsuit says that the minority-access districts,
>designed to make it easier for blacks and Hispanics to be elected
>to Congress, constitute illegal racial gerrymandering.
>
> So eager is Jeb Bush to avoid taking sides that his
> spokesmen have issued confusing statements about whether
> he has or has not rejected a proposed settlement. Black
> Congress members and civil rights advocates say the
> settlement sold them out.
>
> Democrats sought last week to score points off
> Bush's problems, pointing out any inconsistency in
> his office's statements on the lawsuit. It didn't help Bush
>that his official representative in the lawsuit, state
> Attorney General Bob Butterworth, is a Democrat who blasted away
>at alleged perfidy by Republicans in brokering the settlement.
>
> Republicans deny there was any treachery on their side,
> and suggest that the black leaders and Democrats set up Bush.
>
> ``We believe the attorney general is putting a very
> political spin on this,'' said state Sen. Jack Latvala,
>R- Palm Harbor, who's involved in the lawsuit on behalf
> of the Florida Senate. ``This isn't a black vs. white issue
> - it's a Republican vs. Democrat issue.''
>
> Latvala hinted - without naming him - that U.S. Rep.
>Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, may have agreed initially to the deal, then
>changed his
>position after ``substantial pressure from his Democratic colleagues.''
>
> Bush had no role in setting up the districts, and is
> named as a defendant in the lawsuit only because of
> his position. ``He's trying to make everybody happy,'' Latvala said.
>
> Terence Anderson, Hastings' attorney, dismissed
> Latvala's assertion. `It's false,'' he said. ``At all points
> in time, since he first received the proposal, he's been opposed to it.'
>
> IN THE LONG RUN, though, the affirmative action dispute
> may pose the greatest danger to the Bushes.
>
> Ward Connerly, nationally known California anti- affirmative
> action activist, is leading the drive to put a measure on the 2000 state
>ballot
>abolishing government race and gender preferences.
>
> Connerly has said he chose Florida in part because,
>as the home state of George W. Bush's brother, it would put the question in
the
>``back yard'' of the 2000 presidential race. He hopes to force the Bush
>brothers
> to take a stand.
>
> An identical 1996 ballot measure in California, plus
> one in 1994 denying welfare benefits to illegal immigrants,
>proved disastrous for California's GOP.
>
> Both measures won. But they also spawned a minority
> backlash, mainly Hispanic, that swept California Republicans
> from office in 1996 and 1998.
>
> The California GOP lost every statewide office except two,
>plus their state Assembly majority and the governor's office. Democrats
> widened their majorities in the state Senate and congressional
>delegation.
>
> ``For Democrats, it's been the gift that keeps on giving,'' said
>Jack Pitney, a former GOP congressional staffer, now a political science
>professor at Claremont McKenna College in California.
>
> If a 2000 ballot measure in Florida were to catalyze a
>similar minority backlash, as many think it would, that could endanger
George
>Bush's chance of winning, along with the GOP's candidate for U.S. Senate.
>
> And if the Republicans lose their majorities in the
> state Legislature, they lose control over legislative redistricting
> after the 2000 Census. The ability to arrange voting districts to
>suit them would give Democrats an electoral edge for a decade.
>
> JEB BUSH has tried to forestall Connerly without angering
> conservative opponents of affirmative action. He has denounced the
petition
>drive as racially divisive, but also says he opposes racial and gender
> quotas and preferences.
>
> Last week, with Connerly's forces on the verge of collecting
> enough signatures to seek state Supreme Court approval of their ballot
>language, Bush said he may review state affirmative action policies
himself.
>
> He said he'll order or recommend to the Legislature any
> needed changes, including abolishing ``overt quotas or preferences.''
>
> Although Bush denies it, the move is widely regarded
> as an attempt to compromise with Connerly. Defenders of
> affirmative action charge that Bush is, in effect, doing Connerly's will.
>
> The South Florida lawsuit concerns voting districts set
> up to make it more likely that minorities will be elected to
> Congress and the state Senate in Florida.
>
> The proposed deal would dilute minority strength
> in those districts, but might also bring them more into
> line with recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
>
> William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Just Tell Us What You Want...
>Respond.com - Shopping the World for You!
>http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/738
>
>-------
>To subscribe to The Florida Left List, send a message to
reporter at magicnet.net.
>
>Read messages you may have missed at
>http://www.egroups.com/group/floridaleft/
>
>