From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 03:31:25 -0700 To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fwd: [PE] OLYMPIA, WA: STATE LAWMAKERS CONSIDER AFFIRMATIVE ACTION --WebTV-Mail-351832563-14317 --WebTV-Mail-351832563-14317 Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 19:24:45 -0800 (PST) Reply-To: 2000seradc@galaxy.UCR.EDU Originator: 2000seradc@listserv Sender: 2000seradc@galaxy.UCR.EDU From: Roberto Calderon To: xcruz@webtv.net Subject: [PE] OLYMPIA, WA: STATE LAWMAKERS CONSIDER AFFIRMATIVE ACTION X-Comment: Discussion/Advocacy of Human, Labor & Civil Rights Source: The Associated Press, "Battle Over Preferences Moves North," THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE, Sunday, February 1, 1998, A-1, A-15 (Riverside, CA). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Associated Press, "Battle Over Preferences Moves North," THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE, Sunday, February 1, 1998, A-1, A-15. * Washington state lawmakers will consider a measure patterned after California's Prop. 209. OLYMPIA, Washington.--The movement to end racial and gender preferences in government hiring is shifting to Washington state now that backers have won their fight to abolish them in California. A Washington measure--it mirrors California's law--drew enough voter signatures this fall to qualify for consideration by the Republican-controlled Legislature this winter. "We're excited about what has happened in Washington, and I can tell you it gives new momentum to the movement," says Ward Connerly of Scaramento, who spearheaded the campaign for California's Prop. 209. California voters approved Prop. 209 in 1996. The law bars state and local governments from considering race or gender in hiring, contracting or college admissions. It recently survived legal challenges when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear it. Opponents here say Connerly is mistaken if he thinks the California victory portends the same in Washington. "We see no momentum in what they've done. What we see is the influence of outside money," says Brian Komar, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, which monitors attempts to roll back affirmative-action programs around the country. Komar was referring to the fact that more than half the $373,458 raised to finance the initiative campaign came from Connerly's conservative American Civil Rights Institute, the group that helped bankroll the California initiative. In Washington state, much of the money was used to pay people to gather the required 179,248 signatures of registered voters. A more telling measure of the movement's momentum can be found in statistics gathered by his organization, Komar said. "If you look at 1997, there were at least 25 bills in over a dozen states to roll back affirmative action. Not one was enacted into law," he said. "Right now, Washington is the only state with an initiative, and we don't believe it will ever become law." He noted that Houston voters last fall rejected a ballot initiative to end race and gender preferences in city contracting. That vote reflects the nation's pulse on the issue, Komar contends. ************************************************************ MINORITY EMPLOYMENT IN WASHINGTON ************************************************************ The number of minorities employed by Washington state government increased between 1980 and mid-1997, partly because of the effects of affirmative action policies, according to the state Department of Personnel. * Overall, minorities made up about 10 percent of the state workforce of 33,178 in July 1980. By April 1997, they made up about 16 percent of 48,021 workers. * Blacks made up about 3.5 percent of the workforce in 1980. By April 1997, they accounted for 4.8 percent. Blacks make up 3.4 percent of the state's population of 5.5 million. * Asians made up about 2.9 percent of the workforce in 1980. By April 1997, they accounted for 5.1 percent. Asians make up 6 percent of the state population. * Hispanics made up about 1.9 percent of the 1980 workforce. By April 1997, they accounted for 4 percent. Hispanics make up 5.7 percent of the state population. * American Indians, 1.8 percent of the 1980 workforce, made up 2.1 percent of the total in April 1997. They make up 3 percent of the state population. ************************************************************ Source: The Associated Press ************************************************************ Connerly scoffs at Komar's views, calling the Houston vote "an anomaly" amid growing voter dissatisfaction with affirmative action programs. And he dismissed the failures of anti-affirmative action measures in state legislatures, saying they reflect a lack of political courage, not public sentiment. "Legislative bodies don't have the stomach to take on the established powers, the NACCP, the Black Caucus, the ACLU," the businessman said. "If this Legislature doesn't pass Initiative 200, then we believe Washington voters will," he said. Whatever the outcome, the state fight over the measure is shaping up to be ugly. "Damn them and damn their initiative," said Michael Ali McCauley, a black state worker. Affirmative action gave him an edge in landing a state job as a workplace safety official, and rightly so, said McCauley, his voice cracking with anger. "Affirmative action is about fairness, about giving us access to the doors we need to get anywhere. That's all it is," he said. But Republican state Rep. Scott Smith, an insurance salesman from Graham who helped lead the signature-gathering campaign, says there are plenty of angry white males in Washington who support the measure. "An awful lot of people like me have lost out on jobs and on contracts because they were passed over for somebody else because of the color of their skin," he said. "That isn't fair." If lawmakers here don't pass Initiative 200, it will automatically go to voters in November. The Legislature could also come up with its own version to compete with the initiative on the ballot. Legislative leaders haven't decided how to proceed. The state Republican Party and leaders of both houses support the proposal, but some fear passage by lawmakers could undercut GOP efforts to woo women and minority voters. Democratic Gov. Gary Locke and the state Democratic Party oppose the measure. Locke has not veto power over initiatives, but the nation's first Chinese-American governor says he will speak out against it during legislative or voter consideration. --WebTV-Mail-351832563-14317--