Connerly to Settle FPPC Suit for $95,000

Affirmative action opponent Ward Connerly has agreed to pay $95,000 to settle a state lawsuit that accused him and his American Civil Rights Coalition of violating campaign laws by failing to reveal the source of $1.7 million in contributions.

The state Fair Political Practices Commission said Wednesday that the settlement also requires Connerly and the coalition to admit they violated campaign finance laws and to file donation disclosure reports.

The suit, filed by the FPPC on Sept. 3, 2003, involved contributions to support Proposition 54, Connerly’s unsuccessful ballot measure to restrict state and local governments’ ability to collect racial data.

Voters rejected the measure on the October 2003 gubernatorial recall ballot after opponents argued that it would hamper law enforcement, health programs and schools.

FPPC chairwoman Liane Randolph said the donations should have been disclosed before the election because voters were entitled to know who was giving money to the Proposition 54 campaign.

But Connerly disagreed, saying the contributions were solicited for the group’s “national activities of ending [racial] preferences,” not to support Proposition 54, although that’s how most of the money was used.

He said he decided to settle the lawsuit because he didn’t have the money to fight it.

Connerly, a former member of the UC Board of Regents, was also the author of Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot initiative that barred consideration of race or gender in public hiring, contracting or education.