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Clinton Initiative on Race Is Lacking, Gingrich Says

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) chastised President Clinton yesterday for not including conservative voices in his attempt to start a national dialogue on race relations, complaining the initiative appears geared toward "indoctrinating" Americans.

Gingrich was reacting to a Wednesday meeting of the president's advisory board on race that focused on diversity in higher education without inviting anyone involved in efforts to repeal racial preferences in university admissions. Board chairman John Hope Franklin dismissed Ward Connerly, who led the campaign for California's Proposition 209, saying, "I'm not certain what . . . Mr. Connerly would contribute."

"When did your call for a dialogue become a monologue?" Gingrich asked Clinton in a letter yesterday. "Is your panel interested in educating our citizens -- or indoctrinating them?"

Excluding those with other opinions and brushing off the majority will in the nation's largest state, Gingrich added, "do not reflect a desire for the honest dialogue for which you have called. In fact, dismissing the legitimate votes of the people of California, this displays an attitude of liberal elitism."

Even before Franklin's comments, though, the White House had been working to engage conservatives. Officials said earlier this week that they plan to invite a group of prominent activists and thinkers who disagree with Clinton's views on affirmative action to a White House meeting with the president in the next month.

To prove that it had reached out previously, the White House released a letter Franklin sent Gingrich in July seeking his input. Gingrich wrote back months later touting school vouchers, a White House aide said, which showed "it wasn't a serious response."