Storm Rises Over Ex-Klansman at Debate

What student leaders say was a simple attempt to bring big names to a campus debate at Cal State Northridge has ballooned into a national controversy over affirmative action, Proposition 209 on the California ballot and the Ku Klux Klan.

It has provided a coast-to-coast forum for the views of ex-Klan leader David Duke, who was invited by the students to speak against affirmative action at a debate Sept. 25. And it has got supporters of Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative action measure, boiling mad as they accuse the measure’s opponents of what they call a dirty trick--trying to link the proposition in voters’ minds with Duke and Klan-style racism.

Tuesday, Duke appeared on four California-based radio talk shows, and has been on several other shows--two of them syndicated nationally--over the past two weeks, said Glenn Montecino, Duke’s spokesman. On Monday, Duke was featured in a CNN piece, and several national and regional newspapers have weighed in.

Duke has expressed strong support for Proposition 209 in his appearances, even saying that the measure, which would ban affirmative action by state and local government agencies in California, doesn’t go far enough.

On programs in Sacramento and Los Angeles today, he decried affirmative action and the increases in minority populations in major U.S. cities. He accused minority men of raping white women “by the thousands” and said black New Orleans police officers had raped and killed local citizens.

All of Duke’s California media appearances, Montecino said, have been prompted by the controversy at Cal State Northridge. The attention is welcomed by Duke, Montecino said, who enjoys sparring with talk show hosts and is running for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana.

“He’s not running in California . . . but it does help,” Montecino said.

The student leaders who voted 12 to 11 to bring Duke to their debate say they don’t understand what the fuss is about.

Student Senate President Vladimir Cerna said the student government simply wanted to bring well-known figures to the campus to debate affirmative action. They invited many, including Colin Powell and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, but only Duke accepted, he said.

But Ward Connerly, a University of California regent and chairman of the “Yes on 209” campaign, describes Duke’s Northridge appearance as a sleazy political ploy to associate the anti-affirmative action initiative with the KKK, which is loathed by many voters. Connerly has offered to appear in favor of the proposition in the Northridge debate, but only if the students rescind Duke’s invitation.

“It’s so transparent,” Connerly said Tuesday. “Just strip away the political trickery that’s involved.”

During the weekend, Connerly said he had a source at Cal State Northridge who could prove that Duke’s appearance was engineered by opponents of Proposition 209. But as of Tuesday the campaign had not produced that source, or any evidence of a conspiracy.

Connerly Tuesday again sharply criticized Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson for not speaking out against Duke’s appearance. Last week, Gov. Pete Wilson--a Proposition 209 backer--joined in, saying the invitation to Duke is “to be deplored.”

A Proposition 209 campaign spokeswoman Tuesday expressed fears that the opposition will incorporate Duke’s appearance into their arguments.

Patricia Ewing, who heads the campaign to defeat Proposition 209, said opponents have not yet decided whether to do that in upcoming commercials and mailings.

But since the controversy erupted last week, she and other opponents repeatedly pointed to Duke’s support of the proposition in media interviews.

On Tuesday, she accused the governor of opening the door for Duke by using Proposition 209 as an issue in his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Proposition 209 is racist, Ewing said, and it shouldn’t be surprising that Duke supports it.

“Once you start going down that road, you open the door for people like David Duke,” Ewing said. “And you know what? The door was open, and David Duke walked right through it.”

Pete Wilson’s press aide, Sean Walsh, said the governor “won’t dignify Pat Ewing’s rambling with a response.”

Far from being racist, Walsh said, Proposition 209 defends the right of all people to compete without prejudice.

Ewing vehemently denied a suggestion by Connerly that her campaign was involved in a conspiracy to smear the measure by connecting it to Duke.

Ewing said she learned of Duke’s appearance only last week, when a reporter called to ask about it.

Word of Duke’s appearance has been the buzz of talk radio since news of it got out, and several talk show hosts interviewed for this story said they invited him as a direct result of the controversy.

“He was pretty outrageous,” said Bob Jones, who produces “The Leslie Marshall Show” for KHTK Radio in Sacramento. “I found him scary . . . he’s a real sicko.”

On Marshall’s program, Duke defended himself against the suggestion that he was a Louisiana political candidate meddling in a California issue.

“I don’t want California to look like Mexico,” Duke said. “I don’t want to have their pollution. I don’t want the corruption. I don’t want their disease. I don’t want their superstition. I don’t want us to look like that country. If we continue this alien invasion, we will be like Mexico.”

Duke, who will be paid $4,000 by the Cal State Northridge student government to debate Los Angeles civil rights leader Joe Hicks, said on Westwood One’s syndicated “The Tom Leykis Show” that it was “stupid” for Gov. Wilson to criticize his appearances here.

Duke told Leykis that he was invited several months ago by the students to discuss affirmative action, and strongly denied that his presence was orchestrated by Proposition 209 opponents.

“They were looking for someone who was knowledgeable” about affirmative action, Duke said. “They felt I was an authority on the issue.”

Times staff writer Amy Wallace contributed to this story.