GOP Pulls King Segment From TV Ad for Prop. 209

Republican Party officials sought to end a raging controversy over their upcoming television commercial for Proposition 209 on Thursday by removing an eight-second video of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

State Republican officials triggered an uproar this week when they announced plans to use King’s speech in a commercial advocating the end of affirmative action programs in government.

On Thursday, state Chairman John Herrington said he still believes that King’s 1963 speech advocating a society where people “will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” is appropriate for the commercial.

But he said he decided to drop the quote in order to avoid a legal challenge that was threatened by King’s estate regarding copyright infringement.

“It was clear to me that litigation would ensue,” Herrington said at a news conference Thursday. “We are not in the business of litigation. It is not the best use of our time or our money.”

He said the party paid $1,600 to purchase the rights to broadcast the speech from a company that shot the footage in 1963. He also said GOP attorneys believe that the copyright protection cited by King’s estate applies only to commercial use of the image--not political use.

But Herrington said the dispute involved a legal “gray area” because there is no court precedent.

The commercial, Herrington said, is scheduled to be broadcast for the first time today and, eventually, should be seen in all of California’s 12 top media markets.

Herrington said the state and national Republican Party organizations will combine to spend at least $2 million to broadcast the ad through the Nov. 5 election.

Except for the King excerpt, Herrington said the commercial remains as is and, as a result, remains controversial because it still includes two references to President Clinton’s opposition to Proposition 209. Some advocates for the initiative argued against the reference because it could divide support along political lines.

But GOP officials said privately that the main reason Republican Party leaders backed the ad was to remind voters that Clinton opposes a measure that is widely supported in opinion polls and by Republican nominee Bob Dole.

Earlier this week, Harrington said the ad would start airing throughout California last Tuesday. Sources said it was delayed because of Republican squabbles about funding as well as the controversy over King’s image.

Even before the ad was scheduled for broadcast, opponents of the ballot measure held a protest in Los Angeles to demand that it be scrapped. Elsewhere in the country, condemnations came from civil rights leaders such as Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery in Atlanta and King’s widow, Coretta Scott King.

Even after the King segment was dropped Thursday, opponents complained that Republicans have not yet acknowledged that their portrayal of the civil rights leader is a distortion of his legacy.

“It changes nothing,” said Read Scott-Martin, a spokesman for Proposition 209 opponents.