Black Leaders Denounce New Republican Ads Targeting Minorities

• Orignally published by FDCH Political Transcripts on August 12, 2004

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FDCH Political Transcripts

THE REVEREND AL SHARPTON HOLDS A NEWS TELECONFERENCE ON RECENT CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING
DEMOCRATS HOLD A NEWS CONFERENCE REGARDING CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING

AUGUST 12, 2004
 
SPEAKERS: THE REVEREND AL SHARPTON
 U.S. REPRESENTATIVE STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES (D-OH)
 U.S. REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAM CLAY (D-MO)
 U.S. REPRESENTATIVE CHAKA FATTAH (D-PA)
 
FATTAH: Well, let me just first say that I think that the success of the Bush-Cheney ticket in securing African-American votes was shown four years ago when a smaller percentage than any other Republican running for the White House, I think, in my lifetime. It got less than 9 percent.

And I think that these tactics represented in these ads are not going to secure any greater percentage.

I think that when African-American voters saw the president on Dr. King's birthday announce his intention to file in the Michigan affirmative action case against the interest of African-Americans getting an education and all of the other snubs and adverse positions that the administration has taken, up to and including trying to really rewrite this whole health disparity study out of the Department of Health and Human Services -- they've refused to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus. He's the first since Hoover not to go and speak before the NAACP.

There's nothing in these ads, at the end of the day, that are going to persuade African-Americans not to vote in their own interests.

And there's nothing more in their interests, more clearly, politically, than to have this administration out of office and to have a new set of priorities at the federal level.

CLAY: I, too, I think it's laughable. This is Congressman Clay of Missouri. I think it's laughable that the Republican Party would trot out these paid negroes to try to cut into the 92 percent of the African-American vote that tends to vote Democratic.

CLAY: They have no real issues. They have no real contrast between Kerry and Bush. Although if you look at the two records, it's evident that Kerry is head and shoulders above Bush's record. And that's not too hard to accomplish. And so, therefore, I don't see their tactics as being very effective at all.

I certainly will not make a dent in Missouri. We intend to get out a record number of voters. And we intend to vote in record numbers against Bush-Cheney, because they have chosen to send over 1,000 Americans off to die in a foreign land for a war based on lies, deceit and deception. And that's just the start.

They have chosen to not answer the issues of record unemployment among African-American males. They have chosen not to address that. So therefore those are the issues we will put before the voters here in Missouri and nationally and ask them the truth. And you'll find that the African-American voter is very astute and very keen to the issues that impact them.

FATTAH: This is Congressman Fattah again. I think that this African-American focus is just one part of a larger pie. They are really trying to fool a majority of the American people. They want to have African-Americans somehow believe that they're operating the government in the interest of African-Americans when this is the first Republican administration and president to oppose affirmative action and education.

It's just like on this veteran's thing. I mean, you've got Cheney with a handful of deferments and Kerry with handful of medals -- Purple Hearts, Silver, Bronze. And they want to somehow suggest that they are somehow, you know, more capable of representing the interests of veterans. I mean, it doesn't make any sense.

QUESTION: Tell us: What can we do to help?

FATTAH: Well, the most important thing -- this is Congressman Fattah -- is that people need to not be dissuaded or confused in any way. It's time for people to register to vote.

There's a candidate running for president who supports quality public education, supports affirmative action and inclusion of people in areas where they've been excluded from, that's committed to eliminating the disparity that exists in health care, housing and insurance and credit.

And there's one candidate who's opposed all of these things. That is, Bush has a clear record that is adverse to the interest of African-American voters. In every instance, he's operated on that set of positions, and now we'll get a chance not to complain about it on the first Tuesday of November, we'll get a chance to vote about it.

CLAY: Let me also add to that that you can also be vigilant in protecting the voting rights of people, of voters in your respective states. Question election authorities about electronic voting. Question the process about how they will count votes.

If there is electronic voting, make sure that the machinery is certified by a federal authority. And if it's not, ask them to revert back to some kind of paper trail so that we can verify how people vote and assure that their votes are counted accurately.

QUESTION: Let me ask about the electronic voting, because we have electronic voting in the cities of Norfolk and in Petersburg, and I don't think that there is any sort of certification or any type of paper trail, so can you restate how we should feel about...

CLAY: You should go back to your state election authorities and ask them "Has this machinery been certified?" And we know it has not.

CLAY: Fairfax County experienced a lot of difficulty in their primary election earlier this year. And it has not been -- and if they verify that it is not certified, you ask them to go back to a paper trial in order to ensure that every vote is countered and that it's countered and verified.

QUESTION: So the state board of elections should be doing the certification?

CLAY: No, it should be a federal certification by the Election Assistance Commission. But they are not set up yet to do so. It's not done.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: My question for the two congressman or maybe better for the DNC: what is the party planning to do to counter these ads?

FATTAH: Well, this is Congressman Fattah. I think what is most important, and speaking, you know, in terms of the Kerry campaign and the DNC and those people who are interested in this election, is that we're not focused so much on countering these ads. Bush has a record in office, and we're going to make sure that all Americans, in particular Americans who in the past have been predisposed to support Democratic candidate, have that information.

African-Americans need to have information about President Bush's record. You know, so on Dr. King's birthday, he appointed Pickering to the 5th Circuit.

On Dr. King's birthday the year before, he filed a brief against the Michigan case.

QUESTION: Congressman, let me follow-up. J. Patrick Rooney is from Indianapolis. And so the Indianapolis community is aware that he lives here. Indianapolis is a backwater in this presidential campaign. We're not a battleground. We're just kind of out here on our own.

Is the party not going to make either spokespeople available to let this black community know what is going on?

QUESTION: Because most African-Americans do not read The Washington Post, and chances are that the general media in this city is not going to cover this issue.

FATTAH: I think you're going to hear from Congresswoman Julia Carson and you're going to hear from others that are going to clarify the Democratic position on these matters.

TUBBS JONES: Hello. This is Congresswoman Tubbs Jones from Cleveland, Ohio.

Unfortunately, I got stuck in an airport and I'm just getting on the call.

As a member, a co-chair of the Democratic National Committee, I am personally going to be speaking out on this issue and try to contact as much media as I can for that purpose, to talk about the ads, but also to talk about the Kerry-Edwards agenda and to look at the Bush agenda as it has affected African-Americans.

QUESTION: Will that include markets like Indianapolis that were not a battleground state?

TUBBS JONES: Absolutely.

QUESTION: When will that occur? Will that occur after Labor Day?

TUBBS JONES: No.

It is my intention to do some pieces starting as soon as today.

Some of this will be directed at media (inaudible) just like you that hear statements coming from me as a co-chair of the Democratic National Committee.

But also, I anticipate that as the campaign goes along, there will be responses or statements by members of the Congressional Black Caucus across the country, as well as other members of Congress and other members and leaders in the Democratic national party.

MODERATOR: Can we take the next question?

TUBBS JONES: Can I just give one more opening statement since I missed it?

I think, and I don't know what my colleague Chaka Fattah said, but I'm sure I would associate myself with whatever his comments were.

This is the second or maybe even third incident where the Republican Party has used people who have benefited from their largess to damage or attempt to damage persons.

JONES: Let's go back to the ads with regard to John Kerry and his service in the military. And now to call upon organizations to push or promote to African-American people a lie and misrepresentations is, in my opinion, outrageous.

SHARPTON: This is Al Sharpton.

I join the members of the caucus in expressing outrage. And I agree with Congressman Clay. It's laughable and outrageous at the same time.

George Bush has to run on his record. His record is that to date: African-Americans are 10.9 percent unemployed, the highest unemployment figures among blacks in many years. It is double that of whites.

Today, we die disproportionately in a war that he misled this country in.

Today we are sitting where we may have two to three Supreme Court justice seats up. And for him to select new Supreme Court justices, when he sent lawyers into the Supreme Court to fight against affirmative action, is a real threat to black Americans.

So for them to think that they can come with bogus ads and use their (inaudible) and persuade African-Americans against their interests is insulting.

Not only will the members that you heard be igniting and organizing youth turnout, there will be national drives. We intend to get in all of these states and work in the trenches, which is why, at the convention, I confronted Bush's question.

Bush cannot get away with this foolishness. They can buy all of the ads they want.

And then to attack Teresa Heinz Kerry for relating to the fact that she had lived in Africa I think is an insult to all of our intelligence and an insult to what she has tried to bring to this campaign.

And I think that it will backfire. I think what they've made is an investment in our outrage. And it will turn around and energize us all the more to defeat George Bush.

QUESTION: Congresswoman Tubbs Jones, I'm wondering what specifically your disagreement is with the ad. And I have not seen the ad.

TUBBS JONES: We can make sure that the ads come directly to you.

Can you make sure he gets a copy of the ad, the statements and the ad, because I know that those are available.

My specific concern is, here they set themselves out as people of color against Kerry and are not even identifying who they are representing in the process.

In addition, in the ad (inaudible) saying that John Kerry hasn't done this, hasn't done that, that he's not concerned about the African-American community, which in reality is not fact. If you look at the platform agenda of the party that addresses many of the issues that are of concern to African-Americans, if you look at the people involved in the Kerry campaign, if you look at the representatives of elected officials, African-American, who are speaking out in support of him, it's a total misrepresentation of John Kerry and his position.

FATTAH: Let me say this. This is Congressman Fattah. I'm going to have to leave the call.

But I want to just join with what's been said by my colleagues on the call and to say finally that this is the Bush campaign, and that's why they don't lead in any national poll today. And in most of the battleground states it is trending toward Kerry. Because they've not focused at all either on their record or on their future agenda. What they've done is totally focus on being negative -- and incorrect in most instances -- against his opponent.

But if his election is dependent on dissuading African-Americans from voting in their own interest, he might as well start packing now. Because there's one thing for certain: African-Americans are going to vote in large numbers on this Election Day. They have more reasons than they've ever had before to come out and vote.

FATTAH: Not Nixon, not Reagan, not Bush's father stood in the courthouse door saying that he wanted to stop African-American children from going to get a college education at a taxpayer-paid-for college. So there is no room for excuse. And we've got to make sure he gets less than he got last time.

And you remember what they boasted about during that campaign. They were going to get, you know, double digits and 20 percent of the African-American vote. And they didn't even get 9 percent of the African-American vote. And that vote is going to be more potent on this Election Day than it's ever been. Thank you all very much.

SHARPTON: Well, this is Sharpton again. I agree with what he just said. (inaudible)

John Kerry has a long record of standing up for our issues. We've talked to people that have worked with him from when he was a prosecutor in Massachusetts. So to compare the record of John Kerry and George Bush when it comes to the issue of African-Americans is something that George Bush couldn't stand.

So he can only smear and he can only play games and have invisible black put out ads who probably don't exist. Or if they do it, it's marginal at best. And I think that this is a distraction.

But again, I predict it will ignite a reaction that will make sure there's even more of a turnout for John Kerry than before because we are not stupid. And we're not going to be swayed by people that take us to be stupid. And I think that these ads are going to insult a lot of the people in our community.

CLAY: Thank you, Al, Reverend Sharpton. This is Clay of Missouri. Let me also add that the ad says that Kerry missed a vote on the 13-week extension of the unemployment benefit. But it fails to mention that President Bush is opposed to that extension. I mean, this is part of the problem of what Fattah was saying. This is how this campaign, the Bush campaign approaching every issue.

But what Kerry will highlight over the next few weeks will be the fact that he championed a program called "Youth Build" that goes out to help young teenagers find employment, earn a GED. And those are the kind of programs that benefit all Americans and our constituencies in particular. And so that's what you will hear over the next several weeks to counter this negative advertising.

QUESTION: I'd like to ask a question of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

TUBBS JONES: Yes.

QUESTION: Congresswoman, I want to ask specifically if you're hearing from constituents in this area in response to the ads, and what you're hearing?

TUBBS JONES: Well, what I've been hearing from people is: Who are these people and who do they represent, and, well, how did they come forward and what gives them the gall to believe that people are going to believe what they're saying in these ads? I've received calls from a number of people, when they first hit, calls from people saying: What group is this? Where did they come from? Who do they represent?"

Fortunately, we are now going to be able to go out and say to the people who had paid for the ads and the fact that the person who paid for the ads is a perfect person who has benefited and been paid by -- it's payback from the administration for their support. The guy who's supporting these ads has put together a medical savings insurance company, and he is going to benefit from the fact that the legislation that passed permits medical savings accounts.

I've also heard from people that they're going to speak up. They are, as Reverend Sharpton said, insulted by the ads. And this is going to give them even more reason to get out and vote for John Kerry.

QUESTION: Can you tell me if you'll be doing anything in response to these ads back here in the Cleveland area?

TUBBS JONES: One of the things that I'm going to be doing is to -- one of the things I'm doing is talking today in this conversation with you and the other media that are on the call. But in addition, I hope to, in the next few hours, to record some responses so that they can be placed on media across the greater Cleveland area with regards to this particular issue.

And every time I speak, I am going to be speaking up about the ads in the sense to talk about what John Kerry is doing for African- Americans and the policies that he does, in fact, support that are important to the African-American community.

QUESTION: Congresswoman Tubbs Jones, Reverend Sharpton, Congressman Fattah and Clay actually discussed this a little bit earlier, but the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has just come out with 63 pages of recommendations about the upcoming election regarding the various voting systems.

QUESTION: I was wondering first off: What are your feelings about the commission's work, the Help America Vote Act, how things are going and where you may see a lot of potential problems in terms of counting votes this time around?

TUBBS JONES: Let me say this, first of all, the Help America Vote Act was very, very important, and some of its recommendations are important to the voting process.

The dilemma, however, may be the actual implementation of some of the recommendations, and that is why I've been talking to people across the country about the importance of being involved with what we're calling the Family Plan, where they work to ensure that everybody in their family registered to vote, that they've worked to ensure that everybody who needs an application for an absentee ballot gets out the vote, to talk to people about the importance of provisional balloting, and that they have a right to vote and get a provisional ballot and sign that provisional ballot in case there is some discussion or discrepancy with regard to the voting location that they appear at.

In addition, in terms of first-time voters, even though I think it's akin to a poll tax to require people to bring identification to vote that they do bring picture identification, so they cannot be frustrated in the process.

In addition, we are putting together groups to be available so that on Election Day where people have problems with voting, that there will be people available to assist them, attorneys available to assist them, other organizations available at that point to assist them if they are frustrated in their voting process.

We're asking people to call in and talk about anything that is frustrating people's efforts to actually exercise their right to vote.

CLAY: Let me also add that we have requested that the United Nations monitors come in to monitor the U.S. elections in November.

I think that's necessary. We should have an open transfer and process. I am very concerned about Florida, in particular. Because Florida outlawed punch-card ballots in their 2002 legislation, passed at the state level.

They now have electronic voting machinery. But we need to have some way to verify how a voter votes and that their votes are accurately recorded.

Right now, the electronic voting machinery does not provide for that unless you have a paper trail to go with it.

And so we are asking that election authorities around this country verify and certify how they intend on counting those ballots on election day.

Any other questions?

TUBBS JONES: If there are not any more questions, I'd just like to make a final statement that on behalf of the Democratic National Committee, on behalf of other members of Congress, Congressional Black Caucus members, as well as other members of Congress, we are appalled at the Bush administration or the Republican Party's choice to choose this means of trying to suppress African-American voter turnout in support of John Kerry, and that we're going to do all that we can to assure that these ads have no impact at all, and that we will be talking and writing and pushing to people of all colors to make sure that they turn out to vote, and that they have facts, not misrepresentations.

END