Press Release
BAMN Exposes Methods of ACRI election fraud
August 18, 2008
Please read the LETTER and EXHIBITS sent by BAMN to the Arizona Secretary of State and Maricopa County Recorders offices detailing the ways that fraud permeated the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative’s (ACRI) signature gathering process. BAMN’s efforts on the streets of Arizona resulted in educating voters on the true character of the ACRI, so that they would not be duped into signing the ACRI petition. The number of valid signatures that the ACRI collected is well below what they would need for it to qualify for the ballot. "From our investigation and that of others, it is clear that the ACRI has failed to receive the requisite number of petitions needed to obtain ballot status," said Shanta Driver, Chairperson of the BAMN Committee to Stop ACRI. “BAMN’s aim now is to work to assure that the Arizona Secretary of State, Governor Napolitano, and Attorney General Goddard use all of the powers vested in them to stop this fraud from going forward. The best way to send a message to all well-funded fraudulent petition efforts that you cannot cynically buy your way onto the ballot in AZ and prey on the voters of this state is to keep ACRI from reaching the ballot.”
The preliminary evidence submitted by BAMN today to the Secretary of State and the Maricopa county Recorder’s office includes signed and notarized affidavits from circulators, a list of some circulators names that match the names of convicted felons in the state of Arizona, a series of alterations of the petitions that invalidates the signatures, documentation of the racially targeted voter fraud and a host of other election violations.
BAMN is conducting an ongoing investigation of the fraud utilized by the ACRI’s chief sponsor, Ward Connerly, to obtain ballot status. BAMN plans to launch an interactive website so that voters who were deceived into signing the ACRI can help document the racially-targeted voter fraud. BAMN is calling on the Governor and Attorney General to take action because the Maricopa County prosecutor, Andrew Thomas is the honorary chair of the ACRI.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON BAMN’S CHALLENGE TO THE ARIZONA CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE CALL: BAMN 313-468-3398
• BAMN Letter to the Arizona Secretary of State and Maricopa County Recorders offices• Exhibits www.bamn.com
Showing posts with label ACRI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ACRI. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (AAAA) ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE’S ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CAMPAIGN
STATEMENT OF THE
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (AAAA)
ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE’S ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CAMPAIGN
Unsatisfied with the outcome in the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger case, where the US Supreme Court held that diversity in higher education admissions was constitutional, the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) launched an effort to circumvent the decision and amend state constitutions to outlaw affirmative action. After its successful effort to side-step the Court in Michigan, ACRI, led by California businessman Ward Connerly, has begun a campaign, called the “Super Tuesday for Equal Rights,” to pass similar ballot initiatives in five additional states: Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arizona and Colorado.
We find the ACRI’s efforts deceptive, short-sighted and morally suspect. In Michigan, there have been numerous complaints that voters who signed petitions for ballot initiatives were misled to believe that they were approving a measure that was pro-civil rights, not anti-affirmative action. Citizens testified before the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and later in federal district court that Connerly’s canvassers lied or otherwise misled them to secure their signatures. The court effectively condemned the canvassers as engaging in “systematic voter fraud by telling voters that they were signing a petition supporting affirmative action.” (Operation King’s Dream, et al., v. Ward Connerly, et al., http://www.bamn.com/doc/2006/060829-tarnow-decision.pdf)
The essence of affirmative action is opportunity. Affirmative action laws ban quotas and preferences. Yet, the opponents of affirmative action consistently obfuscate the facts, without offering a scintilla of evidence that so-called “preferences” have harmed their constituents. Affirmative action remedies the current effects of past discrimination and prevents discrimination by eliminating barriers to equal opportunity in employment and business enterprise. In higher education, the Supreme Court made clear that race could be one of many factors, like geographic diversity and athletics, in holistically determining qualifications for admission. As Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun wrote, “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way.” Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said: “Affirmative action in the best sense promotes equal consideration, not reverse discrimination.”
AAAA is pleased that ACRI’s efforts to promote Oklahoma and Missouri Civil Rights Initiatives have failed and that the petitions have been withdrawn. ACRI’s shameful and deceptive campaign must be challenged at every turn. We support the civil rights and civil liberties organizations who have mounted a legal defense of equal opportunity through affirmative action and we join them in calling on all fair-minded men and women who understand the continuing importance of affirmative action to stand with us. We must be one nation if we are to succeed in a global marketplace. To that end, everyone must have a chance to compete. This is not the time to turn back.
Founded in 1974, the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA) is a national not-for-profit association of professionals working in the areas of affirmative action, equal opportunity, and diversity. AAAA helps its members to be more successful and productive in their careers. It also promotes understanding and advocacy of affirmative action to enhance access and equality in employment, economic and educational opportunities.
April 23, 2008
(Updated, May 4, 2008)
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (AAAA)
ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE’S ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CAMPAIGN
Unsatisfied with the outcome in the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger case, where the US Supreme Court held that diversity in higher education admissions was constitutional, the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) launched an effort to circumvent the decision and amend state constitutions to outlaw affirmative action. After its successful effort to side-step the Court in Michigan, ACRI, led by California businessman Ward Connerly, has begun a campaign, called the “Super Tuesday for Equal Rights,” to pass similar ballot initiatives in five additional states: Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arizona and Colorado.
We find the ACRI’s efforts deceptive, short-sighted and morally suspect. In Michigan, there have been numerous complaints that voters who signed petitions for ballot initiatives were misled to believe that they were approving a measure that was pro-civil rights, not anti-affirmative action. Citizens testified before the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and later in federal district court that Connerly’s canvassers lied or otherwise misled them to secure their signatures. The court effectively condemned the canvassers as engaging in “systematic voter fraud by telling voters that they were signing a petition supporting affirmative action.” (Operation King’s Dream, et al., v. Ward Connerly, et al., http://www.bamn.com/doc/2006/060829-tarnow-decision.pdf)
The essence of affirmative action is opportunity. Affirmative action laws ban quotas and preferences. Yet, the opponents of affirmative action consistently obfuscate the facts, without offering a scintilla of evidence that so-called “preferences” have harmed their constituents. Affirmative action remedies the current effects of past discrimination and prevents discrimination by eliminating barriers to equal opportunity in employment and business enterprise. In higher education, the Supreme Court made clear that race could be one of many factors, like geographic diversity and athletics, in holistically determining qualifications for admission. As Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun wrote, “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way.” Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said: “Affirmative action in the best sense promotes equal consideration, not reverse discrimination.”
AAAA is pleased that ACRI’s efforts to promote Oklahoma and Missouri Civil Rights Initiatives have failed and that the petitions have been withdrawn. ACRI’s shameful and deceptive campaign must be challenged at every turn. We support the civil rights and civil liberties organizations who have mounted a legal defense of equal opportunity through affirmative action and we join them in calling on all fair-minded men and women who understand the continuing importance of affirmative action to stand with us. We must be one nation if we are to succeed in a global marketplace. To that end, everyone must have a chance to compete. This is not the time to turn back.
Founded in 1974, the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA) is a national not-for-profit association of professionals working in the areas of affirmative action, equal opportunity, and diversity. AAAA helps its members to be more successful and productive in their careers. It also promotes understanding and advocacy of affirmative action to enhance access and equality in employment, economic and educational opportunities.
April 23, 2008
(Updated, May 4, 2008)
Friday, September 7, 2007
Ward Connerly's 'Equal Rights' con
Conservative philanthropy product Connerly launching 'Super Tuesday for Equal Rights' -- a series of November 2008 anti-affirmative action initiatives
In the aftermath of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling severely limiting the use of race in K-12 integration plans, Ward Connerly is feeling his oats. "I believe that we are now poised for a coup de grâce to say that race preferences in the eyes of the public should not be used," Connerly, the chairman of the Sacramento, California-based American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI), said in response to the Supreme Court's decision. Since 1997 ACRI has received more than $5.7 million from conservative philanthropies for its anti-affirmative action activities.
If Connerly's new Super Tuesday for Equal Rights campaign is successful, the day after the November 2008 presidential election affirmative action will be one giant step closer to oblivion. The mastermind behind anti-affirmative action initiatives in California, Michigan, and Washington, has set his sights on five new states -- Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. "This is going to be Super Tuesday for equal rights," Connerly said. "I think it's very clear that we are witnessing an end to an era."
In 1997, Connerly along with Thomas 'Dusty' Rhodes, co-founded the American Civil Rights Institute (website), a national non-profit organization pro-actively opposed to affirmative action. Connerly rocketed into the national spotlight -- and the hearts of conservatives -- with Proposition 209, the 1996 California ballot initiative that outlawed race and gender preferences in state hiring and university admissions.
Connerly-sponsored anti-affirmative action initiatives have a Frank Luntz-ian bent to them. Luntz is the GOP political consultant/pollster/Fox News Channel contributor who has been debasing language for partisan political purposes for more than a decade. As Diversity Inc.'s Jennifer Millman pointed out in a late-August report, Connerly "makes an easy sell to the public by calling for 'equal opportunity' and a 'colorblind society,' [which is] a distortion of civil-rights language that has duped the public into banning affirmative action in public education, employment and contracting."
[To read the entire article, go to: http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=210]
In the aftermath of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling severely limiting the use of race in K-12 integration plans, Ward Connerly is feeling his oats. "I believe that we are now poised for a coup de grâce to say that race preferences in the eyes of the public should not be used," Connerly, the chairman of the Sacramento, California-based American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI), said in response to the Supreme Court's decision. Since 1997 ACRI has received more than $5.7 million from conservative philanthropies for its anti-affirmative action activities.
If Connerly's new Super Tuesday for Equal Rights campaign is successful, the day after the November 2008 presidential election affirmative action will be one giant step closer to oblivion. The mastermind behind anti-affirmative action initiatives in California, Michigan, and Washington, has set his sights on five new states -- Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. "This is going to be Super Tuesday for equal rights," Connerly said. "I think it's very clear that we are witnessing an end to an era."
In 1997, Connerly along with Thomas 'Dusty' Rhodes, co-founded the American Civil Rights Institute (website), a national non-profit organization pro-actively opposed to affirmative action. Connerly rocketed into the national spotlight -- and the hearts of conservatives -- with Proposition 209, the 1996 California ballot initiative that outlawed race and gender preferences in state hiring and university admissions.
Connerly-sponsored anti-affirmative action initiatives have a Frank Luntz-ian bent to them. Luntz is the GOP political consultant/pollster/Fox News Channel contributor who has been debasing language for partisan political purposes for more than a decade. As Diversity Inc.'s Jennifer Millman pointed out in a late-August report, Connerly "makes an easy sell to the public by calling for 'equal opportunity' and a 'colorblind society,' [which is] a distortion of civil-rights language that has duped the public into banning affirmative action in public education, employment and contracting."
[To read the entire article, go to: http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=210]
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