Minorities’ Political Influence Addressed

WASHINGTON —  The influence of racial minorities on U.S. politics is muted because they contribute less to political parties than whites and have less to spend on campaigns, civil rights leaders said Friday at a conference here.

“We are at the start of a decades-long civil rights movement,” said John C. Bonifaz, executive director of the Boston-based National Voting Rights Institute, which sponsored the conference, “Campaign Finance as a Civil Rights Issue.”

The institute, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and other civil rights organizations seek to portray the campaign finance issue as a new frontier in the nation’s civil rights debate.

They argue that public financing of elections would help level the playing field for candidates who might be long on vision and ability, but short on funding.

“We are making the argument that the lack of wealth ought not to be an obstacle to participate fully in the [political] process,” NAACP legislative counsel Willie Abrams said.

Bonifaz says the political finance system violates the equal protection and 1st Amendment rights of low-income voters and candidates, who are disproportionately members of minority groups.

Because studies show minorities don’t donate to candidates in the same measure as whites, their influence is reduced, Bonifaz said. Additionally, because minorities have less income and wealth than whites, the high costs of running a successful campaign disproportionately hurt their chances of running, he added.