Unexpected Voice From the GOP

MISSION VIEJO —  Orange County has traditionally been a breeding ground for conservative ideas, such as Proposition 187. So how do you explain county resident Roland Holmes?

Holmes, an African American and a Republican, is a guiding force behind a proposed initiative for next November’s state ballot that would uphold affirmative action.

Without affirmative action to help minorities, he said, “we go back to the good ol’ boy system of jobs and contracts based on who you know. This is a human and not a partisan issue.”

The Mission Viejo resident is on a quixotic ride for support, especially in his home county.

“I do have a bit of the dreamer in me,” he admitted.

The uphill fight pits him against the state’s powerful Republican machinery, which backs the rival California Civil Rights Initiative that seeks to abolish affirmative action in government hiring and contracting.

Holmes, 60, is director of an organ donor program at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center near Watts. The measure he coauthored, the “California Economic and Educational Opportunity Initiative,” needs to gather nearly 700,000 voter signatures by Feb. 24 to qualify for the ballot.

As of late last month, Holmes and his allies, who are primarily minorities and Democrats, had 225,000 signatures for this mostly volunteer statewide effort but had raised only $7,000 for the campaign, he said.

Those on the other side of the issue include Ward Connerly, a friend of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and an appointee to the University of California Board of Regents who is co-chairman of the drive to eliminate existing affirmative action policies.

Connerly and other supporters of the drive, including some high-ranking elected officials as well as mixed ethnic groups, argue that preferences are divisive and unfair, and create tensions between minorities.

A Sacramento businessman, Connerly, who is also African American, helped vote down affirmative action policies at UC.

That vote led four UC Irvine students to stage a 15-day hunger strike and prompted other campus demonstrations statewide demanding that regents reconsider the action.

Initially, the anti-affirmative action drive had raised nearly $500,000 in donations, but then it ran short of cash. Connerly said late last month that the finances of the campaign were mismanaged in the early stages, but that they are “now in good shape” and that about 350,000 signatures had been gathered out of the nearly 700,000 needed.

In contrast, Holmes has not gotten any support from the Orange County Republican Party, which was to be expected, or elected state officials. In fact, no one had heard of Holmes when inquiries were made to the party’s office in Costa Mesa and elected officials in south Orange County recently.

Holmes readily acknowledged that he has been on the periphery of Orange County Republican politics.

David Ellis, a Newport Beach political consultant on many Republican races, said that despite Holmes’ enthusiasm, he has his work cut out for him.

“He’s done the easy part, drafting it and filing it,” Ellis said. “Now he has a big mountain to climb. Without a million bucks and a hundred thousand volunteers, he’s headed for a civics lesson.”

Holmes has spent time organizing the California Black Conservative Network, a 2-year-old statewide Republican group of about 150 middle-class African American Republicans, which he chairs.

His only previous attempt at politics was an unsuccessful try for Congress in San Diego in 1962. Ironically, he changed his political party from Republican to Democrat to run and was disqualified because he had to have been a Democrat at least 12 months.

But Holmes does not feel any conflict with his Republican brethren. Being both a Republican and pro-affirmative action was as natural for Holmes as citing Abraham Lincoln’s Republican creed that speaks of “equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all,” he said.

“I don’t need to be reminded of some of the dumb things done by fellow Republicans,” he said. “But the basic philosophy is still, help blacks.”

In his heart, Holmes still feels himself to be a “true” Republican.

“Not only is it Lincoln’s party, but Frederick Douglass’ too,” he said.

For Holmes, the cause of defending affirmative action is a responsibility that all Americans should embrace, not just African Americans or other minorities.

“When you apply for a job and they put your application in the trash can even before you leave the office, that’s discrimination,” he said. “When you can’t buy a home because of the color of your skin, that’s discrimination.”