Not Your Sweetie

White House Silent on Racial Controversy
GOP Official Expresses Regret Over Distributing Article Critical of Civil War Outcome

By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 5, 2003; Page A05

The White House and the Republican National Committee declined to comment yesterday on a
racial controversy involving a Bush administration ally who is campaigning to become chairman
of the California Republican Party.

Bill Back, the California party's vice chairman running for the top job, sent out an e-mail
newsletter in 1999 that reproduced an essay that said "history might have taken a better
turn" if the South had won the Civil War and that "the real damage to race relations in the
South came not from slavery, but from Reconstruction, which would not have occurred if the
South had won."

The Contra Costa Times reported on the e-mail article yesterday and quoted Shannon Reeves,
the California GOP secretary and an African American, saying: "There's no room for bigotry in
the Republican Party, and I don't think there's a lot of room in the Republican Party for people
who distribute bigoted information. What's appalling is to have the vice chair of the Republican
Party distribute this."

In a statement, Back said: "Upon reflection, I should have been more sensitive regarding
issues raised in this piece and not included it in the e-mail. I regret any pain and offense taken
by readers."

Back said he "strongly" disagrees with the views in the article, and noted that over time he
has reproduced pieces from the left and the right "to present Republicans with a broad
perspective on articles, opinions, and issues being discussed in California and throughout the
nation."


Dick Rosengarten, publisher of the newsletter California Political Week, or Calpeek, said the
controversy is a setback not only for Back's bid to lead the party but also for the Bush
administration's efforts to make the Republican Party competitive in California. "I feel sorry
for President Bush," Rosengarten said. "They have to stop shooting at each other before
Bush has a chance at coming close to winning California."