Below is a text copy of a letter of testimonial from Ward Connerly, former Regent of the University of California, Director of the American Civil Rights Institute, and successful real-estate developer.

November 20, 2006

Re: Ward Connerly Letter of Recommendation of Chetly Zarko

To Whom It May Concern:

I write to recommend Chetly Zarko for the position you may be considering him for. I have come to know Chet well over the course of the last three years, first as a volunteer for our cause in seeking to end race and gender-based preferences in governmental operations in Michigan, and later as a full-time employee of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI). His strongest talents are his sharp analytical and research skills, ability to persevere in the face of enormous pressure and outright intimidation, and to communicate in many different media.

Within a day of the historic June 23, 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger, along with Jennifer Gratz, Barbara Grutter, and many other Michiganders, Chet was among the first to call our offices here in California to invite us to assist in the MCRI effort and offer his support. He volunteered assistance in early July, driving a fellow Californian from the airport to our announcement conference in Ann Arbor, videotaping speeches, and designing and posting our first website. By October 2003, he became a part of our internal strategy planning discussions and earned a spot on the MCRI Steering Committee, helping with the initial language drafting and the redesign of the website for the petition-drive.

In January 2004, we hired him full-time as Director of Outreach and as a key assistant to the Executive Director, Jennifer Gratz. When our Campaign Manager and Treasurer moved on to other endeavors in April 2004, Chet took on most of those roles, while retaining the original duties assigned to him. He was promoted to Director of Media Relations and Outreach, and assumed the legally-sensitive duties of Treasurer (responsible for campaign finance filings). Due to the operational challenges presented by delaying legal challenges, we moved our goal of a ballot question in 2004 to 2006, and strategically operated the signature collection effort from July 2004 to January 2005 (ideas that Chet had a large role in). During this time, Chet’s operational role was mostly as Treasurer of the Committee and as an operational leader in the signature-collection management process. During this time he was entrusted in handling nearly a million dollars and properly disbursing that money to subcontractors. Many of his ideas were instrumental to an effort that probably saved several hundred thousand dollars in expenses compared to traditionally-outsourced drives. Given MCRI’s tight budget, these savings could have been the difference between success and failure. I have no doubt that he could duplicate such results if the task was presented to him again.

In January 2005, MCRI submitted a State of Michigan record-setting 508,202 signatures, 90% of which the Secretary of State later determined were valid. This gave us a cushion of 138,000 signatures (317,000 necessary) to survive the multiple legal challenges opponents would raise. While we were unable to employ anyone full-time during the political off-year, we continued to subcontract to Chet for necessary services, and he formed his own political consulting business during this time. Although it would be difficult to identify any one highlight of that timeframe, one sticks out because of the turnabout. He successfully defended MCRI against an opposition campaign finance complaint, and won a counter-complaint against that group identifying $80,000 in concealed reportings. After taking on other clients in February 2006, he nonetheless continued to do special projects for us on a contract basis, seeing MCRI through to its historic 58% to 42% victory on November 7, 2006.

Please accept this recommendation as an expression of my fullest confidence in Chet’s abilities. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ward Connerly