Prop. 64 Backer, Then a Foe, Is a Backer Again

First he was on. Then he wanted off. Now Gus Sermos, a Mississippi man who signed the official ballot statement in favor of the Lyndon H. LaRouche-backed AIDS initiative, wants to stay on.

Sermos agreed to be listed as a proponent of Proposition 64 shortly after he was fired this year as an adviser in Florida for the federal Centers for Disease Control.

Last week Sermos told reporters that he did not really know much about the measure and regretted ever getting involved. Officials of the campaign against the initiative said Sermos also told them he was tired of the California election controversy.

In a letter this week to Khushro Ghandhi, president of the Prevent AIDS Now Initiative Committee, which sponsored the initiative, Sermos acknowledged he was “tired of discussing Proposition 64.”

But, he added, “I maintain my original position as a supporter of Proposition 64.”