Leaders of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) happily sent out a release Sunday evening lauding that “organizers of the so-called Missouri Civil Rights Initiative, led by rich California political operative Ward Connerly, failed to turn in signatures today in an attempt to qualify their initiative to ban affirmative action programs in Missouri.” 

As ACORN rightly points out, “Signature petitions for all initiatives seeking to qualify for Missouri’s November ballot were due today in Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s Jefferson City office.  When the 5 pm deadline rolled around, it became clear that MoCRI organizers were abandoning their efforts in Missouri….”

Brandon Davis, a spokesman for the WeCAN coalition, which opposed the ballot proposal, asserted in a statement that its supporters gave up because  “Missourians have spoken loudly and clearly over the last several months – and they have said that Missouri will remain a state that embraces the value of fairness, and the goal of creating an equal playing field for women and racial minorities. Affirmative action programs have been one of the most effective tools in achieving these goals in the arenas of public education and public contracting.”

He noted that members of WeCAN (Working to Empower Community Action Now) had fanned out around the state to shadow the MoCRI petitioners “to make sure that they approached citizens honestly and that citizens were aware of the impact the initiative would have on valued public programs.”

Lara Granich, director of Missouri Jobs with Justice, credited the WeCAN effort to killing off the petition drive. The coalition says it was “the main opposition to Connerly’s initiative, and the only group that coordinated both paid and volunteer efforts to defeat MoCRI.”