Group Formed to Promote Unbiased Campaign Tactics

Seeking to discourage campaigning that panders to prejudice, a group of prominent clergy members, civil rights activists, lawyers and business leaders will monitor the behavior of candidates in Los Angeles city elections.

Headed by a steering committee that includes a rabbi, the head of the local Urban League, the director of the California Women’s Law Center, a Korean-American community activist and a prominent Latino academician, the group of about 50 people plans to publicize any campaign activity that they view as appealing to prejudice.

The group says it will oppose “any action within the context of political campaigns that will divide the community along the lines of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or gender.”

At the same time, representatives of the group insist they do not intend to stifle debate among mayoral and City Council candidates. “We don’t want to repress legitimate discussion,” said John W. Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League. “We want people to go at it.”

Calling itself CONDUCT--Committee on Decent Unbiased Campaign Tactics--the group has drafted a code of “Fair Campaign Practice” that it will ask local candidates to abide by.

The code states that besides avoiding appeals to prejudice or hostility, candidates should campaign among all voters in the community, publicly repudiate any statements of support they receive that are tinged by bigotry and be accountable for the actions of their campaign staffs.

If a complaint is received about a candidate, the group will take a vote of its membership to determine whether any action should be taken. If 70% of the members agree that the complaint is valid, the candidate in question will be notified and the group’s disapproval will be made public.

Members of CONDUCT’s steering committee include Mack; Leo Estrada, a UCLA urban affairs professor and nationally recognized expert on demography; T. S. Chung, a lawyer and founder of the Korean-American Coalition; Abby Leibman, director of the California Women’s Law Center; Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, regional director of the American Jewish Committee; James E. Hilvert, regional director of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and lawyer Howard Miller, the group’s president.