• Originally publishd by National Public Radio (NPR) April 1, 2005 Copyright 2005 National Public Radio (R)

ED GORDON, host:

From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Ed Gordon.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman told students at Howard University last night why they should give the Republican Party a second look.

Mr. KEN MEHLMAN (Chairman, Republican National Committee): The George W. Bush Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, and the party of Frederick Douglass is here today to compete. And we will persist, and we will continue this effort until we learn more and achieve more and succeed more in competing to win the African-American support.

GORDON: Last year, Mehlman's predecessor predicted that Republicans would win a third of the African-American vote in the 2008 presidential election. Since taking over the party's chairmanship in 2--or in January, Mehlman has wasted no time trying to make that a reality. He has reached out to many black organizations and groups, and he joins us this morning.

Chairman Mehlman, welcome.

Mr. MEHLMAN: How are you today?

GORDON: I'm good; thank you.

Mr. MEHLMAN: Good. Thanks for the opportunity.

GORDON: Let's talk a little bit first about last night's meeting with students at Howard University. Characterize, if you will, how it went?

Mr. MEHLMAN: I thought it was a very--I thought it was useful. It was interesting. I thought it was a very friendly reception. I found it to be, as I found all of these events to be, opportunities for myself to listen and to learn, and I hope it was an opportunity for folks to hear about this president and this party's agenda for making sure that more Americans have access to the American Dream.

GORDON: Now you've been going around, doing what many have called conversations, or town hall meetings...

Mr. MEHLMAN: Yeah.

GORDON: ...with many African-American groups. Yet, Mr. Mehlman--and I know this is not new to you--there are some who will say, `This is simply political pandering. It's an opportunity to shore up numbers and get folks in office, but not necessarily speak to the black agenda.' Answer that criticism for me.

Mr. MEHLMAN: Well, I think that that criticism is unfair from a number of perspectives. One of them is, look, we don't have an election coming up in a few weeks or a few months. I've been the chairman of the party now for only six weeks, and we don't have a congressional election for two years and a presidential election for four years. We're having this conversation now because we want there to be a sincere dialogue. We want to have a real discussion. We want to listen. We want to learn. We want to help. And if we do those things, then I think we have an opportunity to earn the right to lead.

GORDON: What's new about this outreach? I remember being in Washington and covering the late Lee Atwater. And his mandate to the RNC at that time was to reach out to African-Americans. And, quite frankly, since that time no one has necessarily taken that mantle as you have decidedly to try to make that happen. What's different this time around?

Mr. MEHLMAN: I think there are a number of differences. I think one of the most important differences is the agenda that's before Congress and before the American people today. My message that I gave last night was, `Give us a chance, and we'll give you a choice.' And the reason that's the message is that on the whole host of issues from education to home ownership, to owning a small business, to retiring with a nest egg that you can have or pass along to your children, the Republican Party today wants to make sure that everyone has access to the American Dream, and everyone has the choices that are available to people who are middle class or upper class or wealthy. And so many African-Americans already have those choices, but in too many other communities and too many other neighborhoods, folks don't yet have true choice, when it comes to education, of quality schools.

GORDON: Yet there...

Mr. MEHLMAN: They don't have the choice to own a small business, and so I think we have an opportunity to say we stand on the shoulders of the men and women who made possible legal equality, and our goal now needs to be economic equality and opportunity, and that's what our agenda tries to accomplish.

GORDON: Yet, Mr. Mehlman, there will be those who will say that the thing that will give those African-Americans you speak about that real opportunity for choice are issues like affirmative action, which many African-Americans see the Republican Party, quite frankly, on the wrong side.

Mr. MEHLMAN: Well, I would respectfully disagree. I think if you look at the way that the president, when he was governor of Texas, approached affirmative action, the way Governor Jeb Bush of Florida approached it, both produced policies that made sure that the universities were as diverse, if not more diverse, than when the race-based affirmative action programs were created. But the fact is the courts in this country have very clearly said repeatedly that we can't have quotas. So if your goal is diversity in a world where the courts have said, `You can't have quotas,' what is your mentality? What do you do? On the one hand...

GORDON: Yet, Mr. Mehlman...

Mr. MEHLMAN: ...you can say, `You know, we're for affirmative action,' and give it lip service. What our president did when he was governor was to say, `Every single child who graduates from the top 10 percent of every single school in every neighborhood in Texas is guaranteed a place in the UT system'...

GORDON: Yet, Mr.

Mr. MEHLMAN: ...which means...

GORDON: Mr. Mehlman, let me interrupt you here...

Mr. MEHLMAN: ...that those ...(unintelligible) opportunity...

GORDON: Let me interrupt you here.

Mr. MEHLMAN: ...and more diversity in the schools.

GORDON: Let me interrupt you here and talk about...

Mr. MEHLMAN: Go ahead.

GORDON: ...the idea, if you will, of the president siding particularly--and many people were introduced to affirmative action, quite frankly and sadly, with the Supreme Court case with the University of Michigan. And the president did not take an opportunity to lead and really come down on the side where most African-Americans--and I underline most--stand on affirmative action.

Mr. MEHLMAN: Well, I think what the president said is `Race can be a factor,' which he believes. He also said that the way that the University of Michigan did it he didn't think was right. So the president's position, I think, made some conservatives unhappy; it made some liberals unhappy. I think it was a balanced and a fair approach. And this is a president that I think, by virtue not only of his position in that case, but his appointments and everything else he's done, is very much committed to making sure that not only do we have diversity in this country, but that we view diversity as one of our strengths in this society, which I firmly believe.

GORDON: Let me ask you this. Do you believe--rather than get into debating President Bush's stance per se; we can do that with the administration. But do you believe that the Republican Party has given short shrift to African-Americans heretofore?

Mr. MEHLMAN: I think that the Republican Party, before 2004, before this last election, did not do a very good job and, frankly, did not make enough of an effort to explain ourselves in the African-American community. I do not think it was the result of folks who were necessarily bigoted. I think it was the result of folks who didn't pay enough attention. And what I believe very strongly--and I know our president believes, too--and I said this last night: No matter how well we do, no matter how many governorships, Senate seats and House seats we have--we can win the White House--if we're getting eight percent of the black vote, the party of Lincoln is not whole. And we do not have the moral right to call ourselves the majority party.

And so I believe that there has been a change in this party. I think the president has produced that change. He produced it in Texas when he was governor, when he doubled his support among African-Americans over the course of his leadership. And today I think the Republican Party is very committed, not only to racial reconciliation in America, but to reaching out to make sure that we have more meaningful African-American participation in our party.

GORDON: Let me ask you this. When the president isn't clear on what the voting rights extension is, when we see that both parties, quite frankly, had no clue during the vice presidential debates and, obviously, the presidential debates of the epidemic within the African-American community in this country, do you believe that, to a great degree, Washington is somewhat blind to issues of import to black America? And I'm not talking necessarily one particular party. I'm just talking about politicians in general.

Mr. MEHLMAN: Well, let me--I don't agree necessarily with the premise, but I agree with part of the conclusion, and let me explain what I mean. With respect to the Voting Rights Act, the president was asked a question at the end of a meeting. The fact is the Voting Rights Act--one section of the Voting Rights Act expires and requires renewal. It's Section Five; it involves redistricting. And it means that every 10 years when redistricting occurs the effect of redistricting cannot be to substantially diminish the majority minority district. So that, in other words, if you've got a district that's 52 percent African-American, you can't do redistricting, turn it into a 30 percent African-American district because that would reduce African-American representation. And the fact is that we look forward to working with both parties to make sure that's renewed.

We have a Justice Department and a president that it totally committed to enforcing the Voting Rights Act. There's that one section of the Voting Rights Act that requires renewal. The whole rest of it continues to go forward. So I think there was a--the president, at the end of a meeting, did not know--may not have known that specific legal and legislative point I just made. He is totally committed to voting rights and has proved it every single day.

Here's what I do think, though, and I think this because I've heard it from so many people. I don't believe that the African-American community is as well served as it can be when the Democratic Party takes African-American votes for granted and assumes them without having to earn them and the Republican Party doesn't compete for it. I want to see as much competition for the African-American vote as there is for every other vote in this country. And if that happened--I think it would be great if every politician running for office had to learn about the epidemic of increased AIDS among heterosexual African-American women. I think it would be great if everyone running for office was as boned up on every specific provision of the Voting Rights Act as they are on dealing with every other issue our country faces.

And that's one of the benefits, I think, that this outreach that we're trying to do, this meaningful participation, will create. And that is if two parties are really competing, then the community really has maximum leverage. And so I think not only is this good for the Republican Party because our party is better off with more meaningful African-American participation, I think it's better for the country, and I think it's better for the African-American community.

GORDON: So are you saying, Ken Mehlman, unlike issues like education as a broad base, gay marriage, faith-based initiatives, which the GOP touts as those issues that are close-knit between them and African-Americans--are you saying the party is willing to, in your words, try to garner the African-American vote by discussing things like affirmative action, quite frankly, that you don't see eye to eye on? And how willing do you believe that, not the RNC, but Republicans in office are going to be in terms of coming to the table in dealing with issues like that?

Mr. MEHLMAN: Well, I think we're willing to discuss everything and anything. I think that's one of the things that--anytime you--that's what our politics ought to produce, an open discussion. Sometimes we're going to agree, sometimes we're going to disagree. But I actually think that, you know, a lot of the issues we discuss that are broad-based issues, like education--consider personal retirement accounts. It always amuses me when folks from the other side of the aisle say, `We don't need personal retirement accounts. We've already got 401(k)s and IRAs.' They might have them, but the fact is if you live paycheck to paycheck, you aren't able to set aside a nest egg; you're not able to build capital, which you can use for your own retirement or you can make sure that's available for your children.

You know, one of the things I hear a lot is that folks in the African-American community rely more on Social Security than folks in the white community. And that's why we need to save Social Security. But here's something else. If that's true, wouldn't it be great if, in addition to Social Security, more black families in the future had a nest egg that they could rely on the same way that many white families have today and that a lot of black families have today? And the fact is there is a huge gap between African-American families and white families in the wealth of--the household wealth. This personal retirement account will close that gap.

So when I look at that issue, not only do I look at it in terms of saving Social Security, which is a good national issue. I say for families who have not yet had access to the American Dream, have not been able to actually build a nest egg and set it aside, this is a great opportunity to create equality and to close the gap between minorities and non-minorities when it comes to household wealth.

GORDON: Well, we don't know exactly whether it would close that gap or not, but that certainly is a debate for another day. But, Ken Mehlman, we want to thank you for coming on and joining us.

Mr. MEHLMAN: Thank you for the opportunity. I hope we'll do this again.

GORDON: Greatly appreciated. We will if you come back. Ken Mehlman, chair of the Republican National Committee and former campaign manager for President George W. Bush in his successful re-election bid.

A quick note here: Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean will join us next week to talk about his party's outreach for African-American voters.

Coming up, a federal judge gave the city of Cincinnati an ultimatum to reform its police department. After four years, not much has changed. We'll talk about that on the roundtable.

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