Hundreds protest petition against affirmative action

Analysis:

This article is the result of a public hearing held by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in Grand Rapids on May 22 in regards to claims of fraudulent practices in the gathering of signatures for the ballot initiative known as the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. Readers hear from just two of the people who testified that night and from the Civil Rights Commission chairperson Mark Bernstein.

The article also includes some information on hearings in other parts of the state and what the ballot initiative would change if passed. Over one third of the article is devoted to polling information, some of it unsourced and some of it attributed to Steve Mitchell, someone who has had clients ranging from big business, elected officials and media outlets. What was omitted in the story was the organizing work done by several groups to turn people out, particularly the group BAMN, By Any Means Necessary. BAMN has been organizing on this issue across the state and even has an online resource for people to find out if they signed the petition to put a ban on affirmative actions programs on the November 7 ballot.

Story:

Their angry testimony may not be enough.

But to people like Harry Campbell, that is all the more reason to stand up and vote down a November ballot initiative that would ban affirmative action in Michigan.

“This is fraud, and it’s got to go,” Campbell said at a hearing Monday before the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.
Like many others, Campbell said he was tricked by a petition circulator into signing a petition against affirmative action.

“He said, ‘This is to keep affirmative action,”’ said Campbell, who was recently elected to the Grand Rapids Board of Education.

If the measure cannot be kept off the ballot, Campbell said later, there is but one option: “Get out and vote. Vote it down.”

This was the latest in a series of state hearings on claims that thousands were duped into signing petitions to put the anti-affirmative action measure on the ballot. More than 200 people jammed into the Grand Rapids Board of Education meeting room to vent their frustration at the means petition circulators allegedly employed.

Commission Chairman Mark Bernstein said he has heard “compelling, credible and very disturbing” testimony at hearings in Flint, Lansing and Detroit that voters were misled.

But he conceded it is “not likely” legal challenges will keep the measure off the ballot. If passed, it would ban race or gender as a factor in university admissions and state hiring or contracting.

Support for the measure has dropped from 64 percent in January 2004 to 46 percent in a recent poll, while the percentage of undecided voters grew from 14 percent to 26 percent.

Analysts attribute much of that drop in support to the fact the approved ballot language includes words “to ban affirmative action programs.” Proponents of the measure proposed language that did not include the words “affirmative action.”

Claiming fraud and deception over the signature gathering, opponents filed suit to block the measure, but the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered in on the ballot, and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Polls continued to reveal a wide disparity by race in how the measure is viewed.

According to a poll earlier this month by pollster Steve Mitchell, the affirmative action ban is favored by whites 44 percent to 24 percent. Blacks oppose it 60 percent to 17 percent. It is favored by Republicans 55 percent to 13 percent, but opposed by Democrats 45 percent to 28 percent.

Grand Rapids resident Tracey Kperzs said she has been a consistent supporter of affirmative action.
But she recalled a petitioner coming to her door, assuring her the petition was to help keep affirmative action in place. She signed it.

“I was duped. Every time this gets raised in the news, I get very angry,” she said.