Ward Connerly
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Ward Connerly (born June 15, 1939) is a former University of California Regent, moderate conservative political activist, and businessman. He is best known for his controversial role as an advocate against affirmative action. His twelve-year tenure on the board of regents ended on January 20, 2005.
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Early life
Ward Connerly was born June 15, 1939 in Leesville, Louisiana. He was abandoned by his father at an early age. After the death of his mother, he spent his child living with relatives in Washington State and California. He attended Sacramento State College, eventually receiving with honors a bachelor of arts in political science degree in 1962. In the same year he got married, from which he currently has two children. During his college years he was active in campaigning against housing discrimination and helped to get a bill passed by the state legislature banning the practice. After college he worked for a number of state agencies and Assembly committees, including the Sacramento re-development agency, the state department of housing and urban development, and State Assembly committee on urban affairs. It was during the late 1960s that he became friends with then-legislator Pete Wilson, who would later become governor in 1991. At the suggestion of Wilson, in 1973 he stepped away from his government job and started his own consultation and land use planning company. In 1993 he was appointed to the University of California board of regents.
Support of anti-affirmative action campaigns and other political issues
It was after his appointment to the University of California board of regents in 1993, that his now controversial views on affirmative action began to form. Through the lobbying of Jerry and Ellan Cook in 1994, whose high-achieving son was rejected at UCSF Medical School, he was convinced that affirmative action was in essence "reverse discrimination". Jerry Cook, a statistician, had presented what he considered proof that whites and Asians were being denied admission despite having better grades and test scores then other minorities who where admitted. This led to Connerly pushing a proposal to abolish affirmative action in the U.C. system, though his proposal would still allow social or economic factors to be considered. His anti-affirmative action proposal was passed by the regents in January, 1996 despite protests from activist Jesse Jackson and several hundred affirmative action supporters.
In 1994, a movement started by a group of academics had begun with the intent to get a ballot measure passed banning affirmative action in admissions and hiring at any state public employer, school, or contractor. Connerly had been hesitant to join the movement for fear of backlash against his family and business but eventually by the end of 1995 became an active supporter and help get the anti-affirmative action initiative Proposition 209 on the California ballot. It passed by a small majority, despite prominent backing to defeat it from groups such the Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller foundations. Connerly, in 1997, formed the American Civil Rights Initiative to take the battle against affirmative action nationwide. Connerly first decided to support an anti-affirmative action ballot measure in Washington which would later pass by 58%. After Washington State, he would turn his efforts to Florida in order to get a measure on the ballot in the 2000 Florida election. Florida's Republican and Democratic leaders soon asked him to abandon his effort though, possible due to a desire to avoid such a hot button issue in an election likely to favor moderates. During this period of time, he also became a supporter of an initiative to provide health benefits for domestic partners employed by the UC system which was barely passed by the regents.
In 2003, Connerly returned to the political spotlight in California, pushing a ballot measure he helped place on the recall election ballot that would prohibit the state government from classifying any person by race, ethnicity, color, or national origin with exemptions. Connerly claimed this measure would help build a color-blind society in California. The measure was criticized by many, including major newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times, who claimed it would made it difficult to study and address racism in California and because its exemptions for collecting data for legitimate medical and scientific purposes were not broad enough and poorly written. The critics also felt his dream of creating a colorblind California anytime in the near future through measures like this was wishful thinking. In the end the proposition lost by over 60%.
His Political Views
Ward Connerly is a moderate Republican who tends to be somewhat libertarian on social issues. Though he has actively opposed affirmative action, he has supported gay rights issues, such as providing health benefits for domestic partners employed by the UC system. He says his views on gay rights stem from both his libertarian viewpoint that government should not infringe on personal liberties and from his own interracial union in 1962, a practice still considered very taboo in many circles in those days.
Controversy over politics and views on race
Connerly's race has been a subject of debate. While he is commonly labeled as being African-American, Connerly rejects this label because he says he is only ¼ Black with the rest a mix of Irish, French, and Choctaw. Some African-American activists have accused him of inappropriately downplaying his black ancestry and have subsequently accused him of being a self-hating black.
Connerly's staunch opposition to affirmative action is the biggest area of controversy surrounding him. He believes affirmative action is a form of "reverse racism" and that black people can achieve success without preferential treatment in college enrollment or in employment. His critics contend that he fails to recognize the problems resulting from past racism that they believe still plague many young black people today. Some critics have also accused him of selling out to right-wing anti-affirmative action groups in order to garner a national spotlight and pad his pockets.
The pro-affirmative action group BAMN (http://www.bamn.com/) claims Connerly, as CEO of Connerly & Associates, Inc., his Sacramento based real estate corporation, has benefited financially from affirmative action programs in contracting. They also claim that as a spokesperson for "American Civil Rights Institute" (ACRI) and "American Civil Rights Coalition" (ACRC), he earned as much as $400,000 which they suggest should lead anyone to question his true motives.
Connerly has also been accused of being a hypocrite for having what some view as a contradictory stance of supporting domestic partner benefits for gay couples while opposing affirmative action.
Another controversy arose after he published his autobiography. Some of his relatives have claimed his accounts of his impoverished childhood, as presented in the book, were exaggerated and in some cases simply false. They say his childhood was not as impoverished as he claims. An aunt does back up his account though, according to Eric Pooley of Time magazine who interviewed the aunt. He suggested that the relatives who contradicted Connerly’s anecdotes about his poor childhood might be doing so due to disagreements with his current politics.
Controversial remarks
Connerly has made controversial remarks regarding racial segregation on several occasions including the following:
On a CNN interview in December 2002 he said "Supporting segregation need not be racist. One can believe in segregation and believe in equality of the races." in response to a question regarding former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.
He told the San Francisco Chronicle in September of 2003 "I don't care whether they are segregated or not." regarding whether his Proposition 54 could derail school integration efforts in California public schools.
External links
- Ward Connerly Biography (http://www.publicaffairsweb.com/ccri/connerly.htm)
- Ward Connerly Critic Page (http://www.bamn.com/doc/2003/do.asp?0309-who-is-ward-connerly.asp)
- Pro-prop. 54 Site (http://www.racialprivacy.org/)
- Anti-prop. 54 Site (http://www.defeat54.org/)
- Know Your Right-Wing Speakers: Ward Connerly (http://www.campusprogress.org/tools/230/)