he was here in 97 to a lot of media hoopla but drive to put issue - euphemistically called Florida Civil Rights Initiative - on statewide ballot was stillborn...in fact, 2 separate attempts - one 'coordinated' from Orblando and another from West Palm - have fizzled, neither raising significant money or collecting many of the 435,000 registered voter signatures needed to obtain ballot status...a third attempt unsuccessfully sought to circumvent petition process by convincing state constitution revision commission to place issue on ballot...
first group to push this in FL was state chapter of National Association of Scholars but it hasn't really been active... I'm not aware of anyone/any group stepping forward to bankroll effort...state Republican Party hasn't, CA had financial backing of state Reps, didn't it?...'97 situation did lead to creation of pro-affirmative action coalition - Floridians Representing Equity & Equality (FREE), was based in Tampa but I don't know if it is still around...Michael Hoover (sans caps)