The chairmen of the Democratic and Republican national committees signed a “Code of Fair Campaign Practices” pledging their parties to “condemn any appeal to prejudice based on race, creed, national origin, gender or sexual preference.”
The code, developed by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, as it has done in previous Presidential election years since the 1950’s, was signed in a ceremony at the B’nai B’rith building here.
“We hope that the very act of the chairmen of our two great parties solemnly signing our code of fair campaign practices will set a civil tone of political debate in the months ahead,” Nathan Perlmutter, the ADL director, declared. He said the candidates also will be asked to sign the code.
Charles Manatt, the Democratic national chairman, stressed that “there is no place in politics for prejudice and unethical behavior.”
Frank Fahrenkopf, the Republican national chairman, said the code should be adhered to by those running for Congress, state and local offices, as well as Presidential candidates. He said the issues facing Americans on all levels of government are complex and candidates should be judged “solely on their ability” to solve these problems.
IRRELEVANT RHETORIC CITED
Perlmutter stressed the point that “campaign rhetoric against one’s opponent on the basis of race, creed, national origin or sex, is irrelevant to political ideology; is irrelevant to competency. Conversely, appeals soliciting support on the basis of race, creed, national origin or sex are likewise irrelevant.” He said the two appeals “are flip sides of the same coin, a bad penny that depreciates America.”
The two party chairmen agreed, although they appeared to absolve the Rev. Jesse Jackson of any charge that he was basing his candidacy on his race. Manatt said he understood the code to be aimed at ridding the country of prejudice.
But Perlmutter said that, just as it was wrong in the 1950’s to appeal in the south on the grounds that a candidate was white, it is wrong to appeal today on the basis of a candidate being Black. “It’s wrong because color is irrelevant to competency,” he said. He added that appealing to one group on the basis of race “is a form of Lebanizing America.” But he would not say if Jackson was doing this.
At the same time, Perlmutter said it was legitimate for Jackson to speak on civil rights to Black groups just as it was legitimate for candidates to speak to Jewish groups on Jewish concerns or to discuss farm issues in lowa and labor in a Detroit auto plant.
Manatt noted it was “political reality for Blacks to be enthusiastic about a Black running for office, just as women were enthusiastic about women seeking office.”
The code pledges the chairmen and the candidates who sign it to “immediately and publicly repudiate support from any individual or group which resorts, on behalf of my candidacy or in opposition to that of my opponent, to the methods and tactics” condemned in the code.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
