Conservatives grab 'initiative' in Calif.

Right plays offense, earns 1-1 record

If one overriding political reality emerged from last week’s referendum battles in California, it is that conservatives are on offense and liberals are on defense.

Conservatives were the driving force behind the two most politically potent initiatives on the June 2 primary ballot: ending bilingual education programs and restricting the automatic union-dues checkoff system that fuels big labor’s financial power in political campaigns. They easily won the bilingual proposal and came close to beating the unions, who fiercely fought the “paycheck protection act.”

In both cases, conservatives were up against two powerful and well-financed liberal foes – the public education establishment and the AFL-CIO.

Their victory over bilingual education was the first ever in a battle that has raged for more than two decades. And they came within six points of winning the union dues initiative, despite being outspent 10-to-1 by big labor’s $17 million TV and phone-bank blitz.

What is important in both battles, say political strategists, is that the conservatives are not only using the ballot process aggressively to win social and political change, they are winning converts and advancing their agenda.

Moreover, California has a history of starting national political trends – such as the state’s tax-revolt crusade in the 1978 that eventually swept across the country in the 1980s. Bilingual education and the union-dues issue both will be on the ballot in other states this year and in future elections, supporters said.

“The conservatives are using the initiative process to advance their issues, but the liberals are not using the process to advance theirs,” said Stuart Spencer, a longtime GOP strategist who engineered Ronald Reagan’s first election victory as governor of California.

The bilingual education victory was especially significant because “it is a wedge issue. A lot of Hispanics voted for it because they are more conservative in their philosophy,” said Mr. Spencer, who has been working to get more Hispanic Republicans elected.

Republicans, led by Gov. Pete Wilson, lost on Proposition 226, which would have required labor officials to obtain permission from each union member before their dues could be used in political campaigns. Early polls showed the initiative winning easily, until the AFL-CIO mounted a negative ad campaign that drove down its support. It lost 53 to 47 percent.

But similar ballot or legislative initiatives were being organized in nearly two dozen other states this year, and conservatives say they plan to try again in California’s next election.

“Even though they didn’t win, I certainly view what happened in California as a step forward for the conservatives because they have forced labor on their back heels,” said GOP strategist Ralph Reed.

“Two years ago we were fighting labor to retain control of Congress. Today labor is fighting for its political survival,” Mr. Reed said. “If conservatives can come this close, I think it’s going to pass next time.”

Analysts see trouble for the unions, now that the issue is multiplying on many fronts.

“Labor over the last 10 years have been able to do well when they’ve been able to concentrate their resources on a single state, as they did Tuesday,” Mr. Spencer said. “If they are challenged in 10 states on this, they are going to have a problem because of limited resources.

“I’d tell [AFL-CIO President] John Sweeney, this is the first round. Better start building your war chest, because you’ll be fighting this everywhere.”



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