Ward Connerly, the California businessman who was responsible for the successful California Civil Rights Initiative two years ago, went to Florida last week to call on the new Republican governor Jeb Bush and other state politicians. It was a courtesy call -- Connerly may launch a ballot initiative in Florida modeled on the one he led in California -- but the courtesy was not reciprocated.
Connerly, a serious and brave public figure, alarms politicians. John Thrasher, the leading Republican legislator wouldn't meet with him. Top Democratic leader Les Miller, perhaps unsurprisingly, said "Mr. Connerly ought to stay in California." What was surprising was the reaction of Governor Bush. The new governor claims to be dubious about Connerly's plan because he prefers legislative action to ballot initiatives. But his remarks to reporters after meeting Connerly were condescending and shallow. Connerly, he said, "wants a war. I'm a lover."
Of course the last thing Connerly wants is a war. Here is an excerpt from an open letter to Colin Powell he wrote two years ago, that was excerpted in THE WEEKLY STANDARD: "We who have lived the black experience have changed American culture. Perhaps the most significant contribution that we have made to America is the premium which our nation places on the civil rights of all Americans. Civil rights: Those personal rights which attach to each of us as American citizens, and which are guaranteed against encroachment by our government. Equal treatment under the law is one of those civil rights." This is a level of discourse to which serious governors should aspire.