Clashes Within GOP Delay Ad Campaign for Prop. 209

Republican infighting and accusations of mismanagement of the campaign for Proposition 209 are threatening to derail a multimillion-dollar television blitz planned for the final days before the election.

State Republican Party officials Tuesday said they had put on hold a major television advertising campaign announced only Monday to support the initiative that seeks an end to government affirmative action programs.

Republican insiders blamed the confusion on “internecine warfare” between state and national GOP leaders. The commercial--which includes film clips of Martin Luther King Jr.--was to be part of a $2-million campaign financed jointly by the two GOP organizations.

State and national sources said California GOP officials jumped the gun by announcing the television campaign before the national party decided whether that is the best use of GOP money.

One national Republican Party official said, however, that the root of the problem should be traced to the nonpartisan campaign for Proposition 209.

“I cannot stress enough how strongly we feel that Proposition 209 has been mismanaged by the staff,” said Scott Taylor, the Republican National Committee’s California liaison.

“Proposition 209 could have a potential to help [Republican] candidates,” Taylor added. “But I think the only . . . decision we have made is that we would never give the money directly [to the initiative campaign] because we’re afraid of how it would be managed.”

Taylor said the campaign was strategically incompetent and financially inefficient. He said the campaign was spending too much money for the amount of attention it has generated.

Taylor praised the work of Ward Connerly, the volunteer chairman of the campaign. He placed most of the blame on Arnold Steinberg, the initiative’s political consultant.

Steinberg declined to discuss the complaint Tuesday. But Jennifer Nelson, spokeswoman for the Proposition 209 campaign, attributed the dispute to politics.

“The people running this campaign are not veteran Washington, D.C., inside political strategists,” she said. “I’m sure there are different people who have made their living in politics who . . . would have made different choices. We are running a very upbeat campaign. We know it’s right for California. . . . It’s two weeks before election day and this doesn’t serve anybody’s purpose.”

Because of the complaints about the Proposition 209 campaign staff, state GOP officials decided to make a commercial about the initiative independent from the campaign.

California Republican Party Chairman John Herrington told reporters Monday that the commercial was scheduled to be on the air beginning Tuesday. He also contradicted other sources by saying that the commercial was completely prepared and financed by the state party.

Herrington was unavailable for comment Tuesday. But sources said the state party’s television campaign was dependent on national Republican funds that had not yet been allocated.

Victoria Herrington, spokeswoman for the state Republican Party, said the commercial’s broadcast was being delayed for up to several days. She attributed the development to “fine tuning” of the ad.

Sal Russo, a Republican political consultant who produced the ad, said television time had already been purchased to broadcast the ad Thursday. He also said many videotapes have already been sent to television stations.

But a source said late Tuesday that those ads were being canceled. The source said it was unclear whether the ad would ever be broadcast.

“I think the best way to phrase it would be internecine warfare,” the source said.

John Herrington said on Monday that the commercial, which includes a film clip of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1964 “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, described the initiative as an attempt to end racial quotas.

Quotas, however, have been banned by the courts. Proposition 209 is directed at preferences for race and gender that are applied in hiring, promotion and contracting by government as well as in public university admissions.

The commercial noted that President Clinton opposes Proposition 209. It also raised Clinton’s opposition to Proposition 187, the 1994 California initiative to stop public benefits for illegal immigrants.

On Tuesday, opponents of Proposition 209 and the King estate protested the commercial’s use of King’s image.

“We do intend to contact the agency that has produced this ad and ask them to cease and desist from using Dr. King’s copyrighted works,” said Phillip Jones, the manager of King’s estate in Atlanta.

Jones said courts have ruled that King was a private citizen whose published work and speeches are not in the public domain but are controlled by his estate.

“We do not allow and do not approve of political campaigns--Democratic or Republican--utilizing the intellectual property of Martin Luther King Jr., which includes his name, image, likeness, recorded voice, copyrighted speeches or rights of publicity,” Jones said.

Russo said, however, that Republican attorneys believe the copyright was limited to commercial use of King’s image, not political use.

Read Scott Martin, spokesman for the Campaign to Defeat 209, said opponents have bought about $400,000 worth of television ads to air right before the election. He said there is about twice that sum in donor pledges.

Lesher reported from Sacramento and Boxall from Los Angeles.