PROP. 209 BACKERS WANT RIVALS TO END NEGATIVE TACTICS : NEWS CONFERENCES HELD TO DENOUNCE PERSONAL ATTACKS ON SUPPORTERS.Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer Supporters of Proposition 209 urged their opponents Tuesday to stop what they described as a smear campaign smear campaign n → campaña de calumnias smear campaign n → campagne f de dénigrement smear campaign smear n of reprehensible rep·re·hen·si·ble adj. Deserving rebuke or censure; blameworthy. See Synonyms at blameworthy. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin repreh personal attacks. ``We're calling on our opponents to stop the sleaze sleaze n. A sleazy condition, quality, or appearance: "His record of public service is untouched by any stain of shadiness or sleaze" James J. Kilpatrick. ,'' Assemblyman Jan Goldsmith, R-Poway, told reporters at a news conference at the Radisson Valley Center Hotel in Sherman Oaks. ``Let's turn down the rhetoric, let's stop the personal attacks,'' Goldsmith said. ``My concern is that reasonable people are being drowned out Drowned Out is a 2002 documentary by Franny Armstrong about the controversial Sardar Sarovar Project. It closely follows a family that is unwilling to leave its village home as the water levels of the Narmada River, mostly because the government provides them no viable by irresponsible mudslingers.'' To push that point, the Yes on Proposition 209 campaign sponsored two news conferences Tuesday - one in Sherman Oaks and the other in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden - denouncing the ``divisive campaign tactics of the anti-209 forces.'' But leaders of the Campaign to Defeat 209 denied the allegations of a dirty campaign. ``Every allegation in this campaign is based on fact,'' said Read Scott-Martin, a spokesman for the group. ``The dirtiest, sleaziest trick in this campaign was putting Prop. 209 on the ballot as a friend of equal opportunity when in fact its aim is to end equal opportunity and affirmative action affirmative action, in the United States, programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women. programs for California.'' Proposition 209 on the Nov. 5 ballot, also known as the California Civil Rights Initiative, seeks to end racial and gender preferences in state and local government. During the Sherman Oaks news conference, supporters of Proposition 209 - standing by a trash can filled symbolically with signs saying ``sleaze,'' ``dirty tricks'' and ``lies'' - criticized their opponents for verbally attacking the proposition's chairman, Ward Connerly, co-chair Gail Heriot her·i·ot n. A tribute or service rendered to a feudal lord on the death of a tenant. [Middle English, from Old English heregeatu : here, army; see koro- , and other supporters. ``These personal attacks are unfounded and inappropriate,'' said Errol Smith, vice chair of the Proposition 209 campaign and a Los Angeles businessman. ``Nasty campaigning is turning off a majority of voters,'' Smith said. By contrast, Proposition 209 supporters said they believe they have run an aboveboard campaign. ``I should say I believe this campaign has taken the high road and has stuck to the substantive issues,'' said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX law professor and the campaign's legal consultant. But members and supporters of the National Organization for Women, which opposes the measure, also made an appearance at the Radisson waving signs and a bright yellow banner that read: ``Vote No on 209.'' Jean Morrison, NOW's San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. chapter president and statewide membership coordinator, called the news conference a desperate attempt by Proposition 209 backers to get sympathy votes. ``I've been going out campaigning, not saying anything personal about supporters of 209,'' Morrison said. ``I've been out educating the public about what 209 is really about.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Proposition 209 backers show signs they say symbolize a smear campaign by opponents at a news conference Tuesday in Sherman Oaks. Myung J. Chun/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion