Handed Out Flyers at GOP Convention : Delegate Faces Trespassing Trial

A delegate to the state Republican convention in Anaheim last September who was arrested while distributing flyers that accused party leaders of shunning traditional family values will be prosecuted on charges of trespassing, disturbing the peace and resisting arrest.

A Jan. 19 trial date was set Thursday for Ezola Foster, president of the Los Angeles-based Black Americans for Family Values, after she refused to agree to plead guilty to reduced charges.

Foster, a Los Angeles schoolteacher who said she has been active in Republican politics for more than 10 years, expressed disappointment over the result of Thursday’s pretrial hearing in North Orange County Municipal Court in Fullerton.

“I thought they would drop all of the charges against me,” she said. “I’m really shocked.”

Foster’s arrest occurred in the midst of bitter infighting that erupted between conservatives and moderates at the party’s annual convention Sept. 25-27 at the Anaheim Hilton & Towers. Party officials deny that they played a role in the arrest.

Foster, a registered guest at the hotel while the convention was being held there, was placed under citizen’s arrest by Hilton security personnel on Sept. 26 after she and about two dozen supporters refused requests to leave the building. She later was booked by Anaheim police and released on $500 bail.

Foster’s group and several other conservative groups were protesting what they termed the party’s anti-family positions relating to homosexuality and pornography.

During the convention, Foster introduced two resolutions. One called for the dismantling of dial-a-porn telephone services. The other demanded a state audit of organizations contracted to produce AIDS education materials and a ban on “obscene and pornographic” AIDS materials. Both eventually were passed overwhelmingly by the delegates.

But flyers that Foster distributed to lobby delegates apparently angered party leaders. The headline on one flyer read: “Porn Profit$ Win Over GOP.” The flyer went on to accuse Gov. George Deukmejian and other Republicans of “failing to protect family values” and castigated the party for bestowing party credentials on homosexual organizations.

According to Foster, members of her group staged a demonstration outside the hotel and were told by security guards when they re-entered the building to distribute more flyers that they were “violating Hilton policy.” She said they were asked to leave.

Foster said several other groups also were distributing literature on various issues in the hallways outside the meeting room where the convention was held, and questioned why hers was the only one asked to leave.

“We had walked in peacefully and were doing no more than any of the other delegates who were lobbying on their issues,” she said. “I hate to think that it was because I am black, but considering what has happened, it must be considered as a possibility.”

The Rev. Doris Hampton, who is the pastor of the House of Prayer for All People in Los Angeles and was present when Foster was arrested, said she was “appalled” at how police treated the mostly black group.

“I have seen and read about things like this happening behind the Iron Curtain, but to have someone arrested and harassed for doing what is their constitutional right I can hardly believe,” she said. “For many, it was their first foray into the political process, and they are very disillusioned.”

Hilton officials declined comment on the Foster case.

Joe Irvin, state communications director for the Republican Party, said Foster’s group never asked the party for table space to distribute literature, and he denied that party officials tried to prevent Foster from expressing her views at the convention.

He also denied that race played any part in the incident and said Republican officials had nothing to do with the arrest.

“We’re part of the American democracy, and we have no wish to suppress First Amendment rights,” Irvin said.

He conceded, however, that party officials were not pleased with what Foster had to say.

“There are always going to be fringe viewpoints, whether they be liberal or conservative,” he said. “But the literature being passed out by Mrs. Foster was very unkind to leaders in the party who have been supported by the broad majority of people in the state. Her views are not representative.”