> Published Thursday, May 11, 2000, in the Miami Herald
>
> Civil rights coalition not resting yet
>
> Connerly bid finished for now; FREE aims at One Florida Initiative
>
> BY BRAD BENNETT
> bbennett at herald.com
>
> Although conservative businessman Ward Connerly has scrapped his bid to end
> affirmative action in
> Florida, a coalition of civil-rights groups on Wednesday announced it will
> pursue its own initiative to
> preserve preference programs.
>
> At the same time, Floridians Representing Equity and Equality will now
> focus its efforts on attacking
> Gov. Bush's One Florida Initiative, which seeks to abolish race and gender
> preferences in public
> university admissions and state contracts and jobs.
>
> FREE, a political action committee that includes the NAACP, National
> Organization for Women
> and the Hispanic Bar Association, is gathering petition signatures to place
> a question on the ballot
> asking voters to preserve affirmative action.
>
> ``[FREE's initiative] doesn't end affirmative action, rather mends these
> essential programs by
> prohibiting discrimination and by banning quotas,'' said Leon Russell,
> FREE's chairman.
>
> ``We feel this is the priority, and we will work through the administrative
> and judicial processes to
> ensure that this valuable tool is not lost to the governor's politically
> motivated efforts.''
>
> Connerly has criticized One Florida for not going far enough because it
> does not seek to abolish
> preferences in city and county governments.
>
> But, Connerly said, he ran out of time to put his stronger anti-preference
> measure before voters this
> year, and vowed to secure a spot on the November 2002 ballot.
>
> Connerly said he has been hamstrung by the Florida Supreme Court, which has
> yet to rule on
> whether his ballot language to amend the state constitution addresses only
> one issue and is not
> misleading.
>
> He said the lagging court decision makes gathering 435,000 voters'
> signatures by August ``impossible.''
>
> FREE now faces the same issue in its own bid to place a measure on the
> ballot to preserve
> affirmative action.
>
> But unlike Connerly, FREE has no paid signature gatherers -- only
> volunteers. That makes the
> grass-roots effort considerably more difficult and slower.
>
> ``We obviously can't get it done this year,'' said Mandy Carter, FREE's
> campaign manager.
>
> Also unlike Connerly, FREE is still gathering the 43,000 signatures it
> needs to get its measure before
> the Florida Supreme Court. Connerly had his 43,000 signatures last year.
>
> In FREE's case, the high court would decide -- as it will with Connerly's
> measure -- whether the
> language covers only one subject and is not misleading.
>
> FREE will pay close attention to the court's decision on Connerly, Carter said.
>
> The court may rule on Connerly's measure within the next week, said Kevin
> Nguyen, a spokesman for
> the American Civil Rights Coalition, the California-based anti-preference
> organization that Connerly
> chairs.
>
> ``It could impact what we're trying to do,'' said Carter, who said she was
> unaware of how many
> signatures FREE has gathered to date.
>
> FREE will continue holding forums and discussions around the state, seeking
> to encourage
> Floridians to support affirmative action, Russell said.