Reagan's detractors say they can't forget

WASHINGTON -- For liberal critics who detested Ronald Reagan's policies and the conservative movement he led, it has been an awkward and infuriating week.

Women's groups, civil rights leaders, union supporters, and other activists have spent decades criticizing conservative Reagan policies -- such as firing striking air-traffic controllers, cutting social services, giving tax breaks to the wealthy, and promoting an expensive space-based defense system that was never developed. The critics have been muted somewhat since the former president died last weekend, but as ceremonies commemorating Reagan crescendoed before his funeral today, some detractors said they were growing frustrated that only the positive parts of his legacy are being discussed.

Martha Burk, director of the National Council of Women's Organizations, said it is irresponsible to omit parts of Reagan's legacy simply because he has died.

''We would actually be shirking our duty as advocates for women if we did not criticize Ronald Reagan right now," Burk said. ''He was, in my view, the most anti-woman president of the 20th century."

In particular, Burk and other political observers said Reagan should be remembered in a negative light for cutting welfare benefits along with taxes for the wealthy, in the belief that lowering taxes on the rich would have a ''trickle-down" effect on all of society by encouraging investment and business growth. Reagan demonized a number of social services -- everything from educational programs to school lunch subsidies -- and, at times, the federal government itself.

Reagan did not acknowledge AIDS as a national crisis for years, even as it ballooned into an epidemic. He appointed Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court, putting one of the most conservative fixtures of the American judicial system in place.

But Reagan also nominated the first woman to the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor. And he made some distinctly unconservative moves as well, such as signing legislation that raised payroll taxes, and maintained an unusually close relationship with former House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Even the most partisan politicians traditionally set aside their criticism immediately after the death of an opponent; prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton and presumptive presidential nominee John F. Kerry, issued wholly positive statements about Reagan, despite disagreements with many of his policies.

In praising Reagan, Democrats have tended to focus on his charm and willingness to set political differences aside at the end of the day. Even some of his harshest critics have paid their respects to his political talents. But as a week of commemorations wears on, some liberal opponents say they would like to see a less worshipful portrayal of the conservative icon.

Ralph Neas, director of the civil rights advocacy group People for the American Way, said his organization did not put out a statement about Reagan's death because ''everyone is saluting Ronald Reagan as a person, and all his wonderful qualities" -- a view the group does not share. Still, Neas said, that has not stopped him from ''being truthful about [Reagan's] record and how awful his record was on civil rights, the environment, reproductive rights."

''I can't tell you how many reports we issued detailing how dismal the record was with regard to civil rights," said Neas, who was director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights during the 1980s.

And on bills that ultimately made it into law during Reagan's two terms, such as imposing sanctions on apartheid-era South Africa, it was only because Democrats had veto-proof majorities in Congress, he said. ''When he signed something into law, we had 85 to 90% majorities in both houses, so he had no alternative," Neas said.

Grover Norquist, a conservative activist who leads a group devoted to promoting Reagan's legacy, said he has no problem with activists homing in on the former Republican's record. If anything, he said, the Reagan legacy is mostly problematic for liberal Democrats.

''The challenge for the critics is that the facts on the ground make their lives difficult -- the Soviet Union is gone and it ain't coming back," Norquist said.

''Socialism is still a failure, the welfare system still doesn't work, Ronald Reagan's tax cuts still create jobs. They lost the debate, and everything they said would happen didn't happen."

And dwelling on the Reagan legacy could present political problems for Kerry, Norquist said, if it reminds voters what the Massachusetts Democrat did and said during the 1980s. ''If I were a Democrat, I'd not linger on where I was during the debate" over the Cold War, he said.

For Burk, Reagan's transgressions started before he was inaugurated, when the Republican Party removed the Equal Rights Amendment from its platform in 1980 and continued with restrictions on abortion rights in the 1980s.

At other times, she argued, Reagan worked to the detriment of women in less obvious ways, such as refusing to raise the minimum wage, which affects adult women more than any other group. ''There is no question that Reagan was a visionary," Burk said, ''but his vision for women was negative."

Anne E. Kornblut can be reached at akornblut@globe.com.