Politicians Lay Out Cards in Prop. 187 Game

California’s voters are getting lectures and advice from every political angle and corner of the country on Proposition 187. They’re being told it will spread TB, cost the state billions and smacks of Nazi Germany. They’re also being told that is all hogwash and that 187 is the only way to message Washington they’re sick of illegal immigration.

The political heavies now have weighed in--the latest being President Clinton--and you can tell Washingtonians by their language. They’re the pundits and politicians who speak of Californians backing 187 as “nativists.”

An example: the surprise joint statement last Wednesday by Washington think tankers William J. Bennett and Jack F. Kemp, who inferred that 187 “would help contribute to a nativist, anti-immigrant climate.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, for one, began loudly arguing early last year that unless tough steps are taken to control illegal immigration, there will be a nasty backlash against all immigrants. But on Friday she said one such step should not be 187.

Politicians who had been hiding their Proposition 187 cards suddenly started showing them last week. The question is whether voters were paying much attention and, more precisely, whether it will change their attitudes.

The consensus of political strategists I’ve talked to is that 187 likely will pass, but many voters probably are rethinking their views and the measure may not carry by as big a margin as polls have indicated.

Voters tend to resent lectures from the Establishment, whether it be from politicians, professors, pundits or prominent people in town. But the preaching invariably is heard, if not always heeded. And the opposition will have a lot more money to broadcast its message than will the 187 sponsors.

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The card playing started with the “conscience” statement of conservatives Bennett, the former education secretary, and Kemp, the ex-housing secretary who is plotting a presidential race. Theirs was a wild card because it came out of nowhere and put them in conflict with many Republican allies.

They argued, among other things, that the 187 provision requiring school and health officials to report people they “reasonably suspect” of being illegal immigrants is “a highly intrusive Big Brother approach” and “profoundly anti-conservative.”

But while condemning candidates who back 187 for “political advantage,” they also offered political advice: The GOP shouldn’t be seen as “turning away immigrants . . . Asians, Hispanics and others” or it could pay a long-term “political cost.”

Turning away illegal immigrants ostensibly is every politician’s goal, whether they’re for or against 187. But politicians think politically. And the real goal for most is attractive posturing and/or survival in the face of strong public pressure.

Kemp, however, was “speaking from the heart,” advisers say. Whatever, he undoubtedly hurt himself with party activists who are pushing 187. The Los Angeles native has been banking on a victory in the 1996 California primary to win the GOP presidential nomination.

Commented Gov. Pete Wilson of Kemp and Bennett: “When you spend too much time in an ivory tower think tank, you begin to lose touch with reality. . . . They’re wrong because they have failed to make the distinction between legal and illegal immigration.”

Wilson intends to do just that in a new TV ad starting today. It will say there’s a right way and a wrong way to immigrate; people should play by the rules.

Opponents of 187, of course, argue the measure does nothing to control the border, and it’s foolish and mean-spirited to deny public schooling and health care to illegal immigrants. Backers contend these services are incentives and, in any case, it’s unfair to force taxpayers to provide benefits for people who do slip into the country illegally.

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After Kemp and Bennett announced their opposition, Rep. Mike Huffington immediately curried the favor of 187 backers by declaring his support. He also jabbed at Feinstein for not taking a stand.

The next day, Feinstein came out against 187, noting this could cost her the election. An early crusader against illegal immigration, she nevertheless found 187 offensive. But she delayed her announcement for weeks to reduce the time Huffington would have to attack her position in TV ads.

Meanwhile, Vice President Al Gore and, then, President Clinton proclaimed their opposition. So did several California corporate heads and hundreds of striking Pacoima middle school students. Commentator Patrick J. Buchanan endorsed it.

For politicians, this is political. But for regular people, it’s very personal. Many may not decide their vote until they enter the quiet privacy of a ballot booth.