Detroit Mayor Sues Over Affirmative Action Ballot IssueThe Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060622/UPDATE/606220450
By Paul Egan / The Detroit News
June 22, 2006
DETROIT -- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against Ward Connerly, alleging the California businessman engaged in widespread voter fraud to get a proposal to ban affirmative action on Michigan's 2006 ballot.
Connerly and his supporters "obtained signatures from 125,000 black and Latino voters by falsely telling them that the petition supported affirmative action," said the lawsuit, which also names Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and other state officials as defendants. Land has overall responsibility for Michigan elections.
Kilpatrick filed the lawsuit as a private citizen but will be asking Detroit City Council to support the action, said Sharon McPhail, the mayor's city attorney, who filed the suit at the federal courthouse. Other plaintiffs are Operation King's Dream, the committee opposing the ballot initiative, two union locals representing city workers, and seven voters who allege they were deceived into signing a petition in favor of the ballot proposal.
Connerly's initiative, called the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, would ban the use of racial and gender preferences in college admissions and public hiring and contracting, effectively eliminating most public-sector affirmative action programs.
The initiative was ordered to be placed on the ballot by the Michigan Court of Appeals in December, after the Board of State Canvassers resisted court orders to certify the proposal.
Jennifer Gratz, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, said the complaint is "totally frivolous and I believe it will be thrown out."
Thursday's lawsuit cites a report released this month by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission that said backers of Connerly's initiative had engaged in "shameful acts of deception and misrepresentation" across the state over an extended time period.
Kilpatrick and the other plaintiffs allege backers of the initiative have violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The backers of the initiative have denied engaging in fraud.
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2300 or pegan@detnews.com .
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