Funds for Fight Against LaRouche’s AIDS Measure : Anti-Prop. 64 Dinner Brings In $110,000

This city has felt its share of grief about AIDS. More residents have died of the disease than the city lost in both world wars, and health officials believe that half of the 80,000 gay men who form a sizable presence in government, business and the professions here are infected.

So when 700 of the city’s top politicians, physicians and celebrities turned out Thursday night for the first major fund-raising dinner of the campaign against Proposition 64, the AIDS initiative backed by Lyndon H. LaRouche, the light touch of comic actor Robin Williams was appreciated.

Williams, who said he watched two close friends die of the epidemic disorder, delivered a sometimes-raunchy, machine gun-paced monologue and pointed most of his jokes at LaRouche, the eccentric Virginia publisher and political extremist whose California staff sponsored Proposition 64. “According to Mr. LaRouche you can get AIDS like this--’Tag, you’re it,’ ” Williams said.

$110,000 Raised

Campaign strategists were pleased. They said the dinner, which featured a strong denunciation of Proposition 64 by state health chief Kenneth Kizer, raised $110,000, enough to allow them to start airing a television ad next week that claims the measure would hurt the research effort against AIDS--acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Proposition 64 seeks to force state and local health officials to collect the names of everyone who tests positive for AIDS antibodies and remove them from food-handling jobs and schools. Literature from LaRouche’s Virginia headquarters also favors quarantine of AIDS patients.

The full implications of its passage cannot be determined until courts rule after the election, but all major medical groups, the California Manufacturers Assn. and top officials of both the Democratic and Republican parties oppose the measure. They say the precautions called for in the initiative are unrelated to the means by which the disease is transmitted and would hamper, rather than help, efforts to control it.

Kizer’s appearance was a surprise to many in the audience. He had defied the prevailing medical view and declined to take a position until this week, when his boss, Gov. George Deukmejian, came out against the measure. But a friendly introduction by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown of San Francisco helped Kizer receive a warm reception.

“Proposition 64 must be defeated on Nov. 4,” Kizer said. “Proposition 64 will not save lives. Instead, I fear, it may cost lives.”

The dinner Thursday was notable also for showing that the campaign’s leaders, most of whom are gay, seem to have succeeded in attracting support from a wide variety of Bay Area sources.

Firms Buy Tables

Full tables were purchased for $2,000 by several large Northern California corporations, including Levi-Strauss and Pacific Gas & Electric. The turnout also included most of the city’s non-gay political figures, the mayor of Oakland, and a large number of doctors affiliated with the California Medical Assn., which is working closely with the No on 64 campaign. Mayor Dianne Feinstein made brief, unscheduled remarks.

Williams, who first became widely known for his role on the television show “Mork and Mindy,” is one of many entertainment stars who have agreed to help the campaign against the initiative.

Bob Hope, Elizabeth Taylor and Gregory Peck headed a list of prominent Proposition 64 opponents whose names appeared in a fund-raising appeal in Variety, the entertainment industry trade paper. In addition, Patty Duke has recorded a videotape appeal that will be played at a series of fund-raising house parties statewide in early October. The other honorary chairs of the house parties are actors Richard Dreyfuss and Cybill Shepherd and former Olympic diver Greg Louganis.

So far, the initiative’s backers have announced the support only of a few doctors affiliated with LaRouche. In addition, Rep. William Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) has endorsed the measure, and an aide is appearing opposite the measure’s opponents on radio and television interview shows.

Earlier this week, LaRouche’s Prevent AIDS Now Initiative Committee released a statement decrying Deukmejian’s opposition to Proposition 64. “We have reason to believe that George Deukmejian is fundamentally a moral person,” the statement said, but alleges that the governor based his decision on budgetary considerations.

Candidate for President

LaRouche’s worldwide organization publishes magazines and journals reporting on politics, foreign affairs and the field of fusion energy. LaRouche, a declared candidate for President in 1988, ran nearly 1,000 candidates in U.S. elections this year under the National Democratic Policy Committee banner.