By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO—The news yesterday of the death of U.S. Rep. Clair W. Burgener (R-San Diego), 84, was expected but most unwelcome.  The "gentleman legislator" as he was described in his front-page obituary in The San Diego Union-Tribune and I had first met in 1972 when  he was making his first successful run for Congress and I was a reporter covering the political beat. 

After I left The San Diego Union to enter into the field of public relations, I gladly accepted an assignment in 1980 to serve as a press spokesman for Burgener's congressional reelection campaign. Notwithstanding the fact that I was then a Democrat, I wanted to rally everyone I possibly could behind the Republican congressman's reelection campaign.  The alternative was unthinkable: the Democrats in their primary had nominated Tom Metzger, the local Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, who for the purpose of the election had been attempting to change his image from that of a racist in a white sheet to an American patriot in a business suit.

Our public relations problem was to get my former colleagues in the media to understand that Metzger was not just a news novelty, or a human interest story, but that having a member of the Ku Klux Klan as the official Democratic party candidate represented a cancer on the body politic. For the media to treat him simply as another candidate to be quoted on a wide variety of the issues of the day—without shining a sterilizing spotlight on the white supremacist cult that he led—would be to confer upon him undeserved legitimacy.

Those of us in the campaign who strongly believed Metzger must be confronted also had another problem. By that time, Burgener had been comfortably reelected on several occasions to Congress.  He knew that his constituents liked him.  Why should he draw more attention to Metzger?  he asked us.  Why shouldn't he simply ignore him as he had ignored other opponents during his political career?  Wasn't the election really about whether or not he, Clair Burgener, had done a good job in Congress?

Unfortunately it wasn't. We argued successfully that Metzger would draw media to himself the way offal attracts flies, and that if we didn't help shape the public dialogue about Metzger's activities, the klansman would.  Reluctantly, Burgener gave us permission to design a public relations campaign.

We followed a two-prong strategy.  The first, to demonstrate that Metzger was "beyond the pale" of the normal political process, was to have what we called "Hatfield and McCoy" press conferences, in which we would get well-known political rivals—Democrats and Republicans who had been battling each other for years—to say that on this issue, at least, they were united:  Metzger must be defeated.

We got some "ink" with those news conferences, but ultimately Metzger himself unwittingly helped us in our campaign to focus attention on his virulently racist and anti-Semitic views. The occasion was a screening that Burgener's campaign arranged for the media to view a documentary about the Ku Klux Klan.  In that film, Metzger himself appeared, spouting the kind of white racist propaganda that truly characterized his views.

Having learned from some informant about the press conference, Metzger and campaign aides decided they would stage a little guerrilla theatre. They showed up wearing Richard Nixon masks and carrying boxes of popcorn. Ha. Ha.  But the story turned on Metzger after members of the media saw on film the kinds of things he had to say when he was speaking at Klan rallies.  When the screening concluded, the media as one turned on Metzger and machine-gunned him with questions: "Do you still believe what you said on the film?" they asked.  "Will you disavow your comments against Blacks, Mexicans and Jews?"  "Which is the real Metzger?"  From that point on, the media recognized exactly what he represented and their stories reflected it.  

Burgener was re-elected, as had been expected, but without Metzger making any political headway. It was for the congressman the most uncomfortable, disagreeable campaign that he had ever gone through.  Gentleman that he was, he was the kind of man who liked to quietly state his views on the issues and not get personal. But he understood that such ugly bigotry, such horrifying racism, had to be confronted.  After Burgener won, and he shook my hand and thanked me for my efforts, it was one of the proudest days of my life.  

Burgener was a man who had stepped up to his responsibilities.  May his name be a blessing.