Looking to awaken ghosts of Prop. 187. New Effort to outlaw immigrant benefits

His name is hardly known outside political backrooms and West Covina school board meetings, but Michael Spence is poised to revive one of the most divisive debates seen in California politics in the p ast 30 years. As president of the Monrovia- based California Republican Assembly, Spence is spearheading a drive to put an initiative on the March 2006 ballot that would outlaw all state and local benefits for illegal immigrants. For Spence and his supporters, the campaign offers a chance to complete some unfinished business and right what they consider a terrible wrong. For Republican leaders, however, the initiative threatens to awaken the ghosts of Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot measure that helped wreck Gov. Pete Wilson's political career, just as the party is trying to court the state's growing Latino vote. [more ]