Prop. 209 Backer Defends Use of King in Ad

As he announced a shake-up in the pro-Proposition 209 strategy team, campaign chairman Ward Connerly on Wednesday strongly defended proponents’ right to quote Martin Luther King Jr. in its effort to end race and gender preferences in state government.

Connerly, responding to criticism that the initiative’s supporters are distorting King’s vision, criticized U.S. black leaders for trying to claim the civil rights legacy as their own.

“I think it is outrageous for Jesse Jackson and all of those from the past, from the 1960s, to somehow suggest that it is inappropriate for any of us to use Dr. King’s memory,” Connerly said at a news conference.

“He belongs to all of us,” he said.

Connerly, an African American businessman and University of California regent, said he frequently provokes strong reaction when he quotes King.

“They say, ‘How dare you,’ ” Connerly said. “Well, how dare them. . . . The words that he said are right. And from now on, I’m going to be using them with far more frequency.”

The furor about King was triggered this week when the California Republican Party announced that it was preparing a TV commercial supporting the initiative that included parts of King’s 1964 “I Have a Dream” speech.

The commercial, which was supposed to air Tuesday, reportedly has been delayed until next week because of squabbles among Republican leaders about financing.

In the disputed excerpt, King refers to his dream of a place “where [people] will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Connerly said he was not involved in the commercial, but would not have used King for strategic reasons. He believes it would energize opponents.

Civil rights leaders and foes of the ballot measure across the country quickly condemned the ad.

On Wednesday, Coretta Scott King, widow of the slain civil rights leader, issued a statement saying: “Martin Luther King, in fact, supported the concept of affirmative action. . . . Those who suggest he did not support affirmative action are misrepresenting his beliefs and his life’s work.”

Administrators of King’s estate have complained that the Republican Party would violate copyright laws by using the speech. GOP officials said they believe that the copyright protection on King’s work is limited to commercial use--not political ads.

Connerly also announced Wednesday that he has dismissed the chief strategist for the ballot measure, Arnold Steinberg. Connerly said he and Steinberg had a strategic disagreement about the course of the campaign in the final days before the election.

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