President Clinton speaks out on Prop. 187

Calls impact of controversial immigration law "divisive"

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 6, 1994 -- President Bill Clinton, in an interview with The Free Press Sunday in San Francisco, called the anti-undocumented immigration measure on California's ballot "divisive" and said many legal immigrants feel it is "motivated in part by racial impulses."

The President also warned Californians they could lose federal funds earmarked for education if Proposition 187 is approved and implemented.

Clinton, in his strongest statements to date on the proposition that has become a centerpiece of Gov. Pete Wilson's reelection campaign, said, "There is some racial energy there, some element to it, but I think what is mostly going on here, it's part of the politics of resentment.

"The immigrants who are in California, many of them the legal immigrants in California, many of them feel that it is motivated in part by racial impulses," he said.

"Whether it is or not , it will have an impact that is divisive."

Clinton, in California campaigning for Democratic candidates, invited eight reporters to meet with him at the Fairmont Hotel Sunday morning. Newspapers from San Jose, Sacramento, Orange County and Los Angeles were represented. Two striking reporters now writing for The Free Press and its internet edition were invited as the only representatives of the San Francisco media.

During the 45-minute discussion, Clinton also praised California's diversity as its strength, which he said is being diminished by the fight over Prop. 187.

"It's having a very divisive effect among California's population at a time when you are poised to be in the strongest position to lead this country into the 21st century, because of your diversity," he said. "It is a precious resource, and it's being frayed and tattered by the politics of resentment and frustration today."

Clinton's characterization of Prop. 187 brought an angry and immediate response from the Wilson campaign.

"Bill Clinton ought to be ashamed of himself," said Dan Schnur, press secretary for the governor's campaign.

Schnur said as the election nears, emotions are running high on the issue of immigration. "For the President of the United States to fly in here and inflame those emotions is the height of irresponsibility," he said.

In addition to opposing Prop. 187, Clinton displayed his classic ability to see the other side: "There is a legitimate impulse behind 187," he said. "The real motivation is the frustration at the inability of the country or state to control immigration at a time of economic distress."

As the president sipped hot tea to soothe his near-chronic hoarseness, he also denounced the negativity in this year's campaigns, particularly in California, where Rep. Michael Huffington has spent more than $25 million of his own fortune on advertisements attacking incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

"This is not a very good way to run a country," said Clinton. "We have to find a way, either through more debates or more forums, to give the American people ownership of their political process and not make them hostage to these negative television ads."

He accused the Republican Party of running "100 percent negative campaigns in the hope that our voters would stay home."

The president predicted that the Democrats would do better than expected in Tuesday's election, in which Republicans hope to make great gains in Congress and the statehouses.

"My prediction is we're going to do a lot better than Newt Gingrich said we would," Clinton said. "If the American people vote on the facts and the direction of the country, rather than the resentments the Republicans are so great at stirring up, we will have a great surprise on Tuesday."

The president added, however, that "whatever the numbers are and however the election comes out, the American people are ultimately the boss, and I intend to work with whatever Congress they elect."

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