Davis Rejects Gender, Racial Hiring Efforts

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis again shocked his political allies Wednesday by rejecting Democratic and civil rights leaders’ hopes of maintaining outreach programs for minorities and women in government hiring.

The governor vetoed legislation that symbolically declared the state to be in support of nonbinding outreach programs under Proposition 209, the voter-passed 1996 ballot measure to ban affirmative action in government.

Even though California courts are still debating the question, Davis asserted that the measure does not permit such race- or gender-based efforts. The veto appears to put him at odds with state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer--a fellow Democrat--who recently filed papers in federal court arguing just the opposite.

Davis’ action continued his zigzag course on civil rights. Today, joining with civil rights groups and Latino leaders, he is expected to announce a court settlement that negates all of the controversial provisions of Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot measure to end most public benefits for illegal immigrants.

Civil rights leaders were incredulous Wednesday, saying that they never imagined Davis--a strong opponent of Proposition 209--would veto the seemingly innocuous, bipartisan bill, SB 44, by state Sen. Richard Polanco, a Democrat from Los Angeles. In tones of betrayal, they added that the governor has jeopardized--if not ended--his chance of fulfilling a cornerstone pledge of his campaign last year to heal the state’s strained race relations.

“He has, in the stroke of a pen, totally alienated the civil rights community,” fumed Beth Parker, an attorney for Equal Rights Advocates in San Francisco. “This is outrageous. He is not a civil rights governor in my group or anybody else’s book that I know of.”

Davis said he will appoint a Task Force on Diversity and Outreach that will report back to him by Dec. 1 on how the state should conduct outreach programs.

He said in a one-page veto message that he believes the criteria for outreach should be limited to economic and geographic factors--and not include race or gender.

As an example, he offered his earlier proposal to require the University of California to accept the top 4% of academic achievers from each of the state’s high schools, extending college access to blighted and otherwise hopeless communities.

“I believe the forms of outreach envisioned in this legislation violate the provisions of that initiative, passed by the voters of California, which prohibited race-based programs to achieve diversity,” Davis said in the veto statement.

“As a longtime advocate for diversity in the public work force, however, I am convinced that outreach programs can be fashioned that are constitutionally permissible based on socioeconomic status, geographic area or other non-race-based characteristics.”

The governor’s action adds fuel to the debate in the Capitol about how state government should implement Proposition 209, a job that has fallen to a newly elected Democratic leadership that opposed it.

Many Democratic leaders want a narrow interpretation of the measure, limiting its prohibitions to programs that required quotas for minorities or women in contracting, hiring and school admissions.

They contend that nonbinding programs such as outreach efforts and pursuit of diversity goals should be permitted, since they say they do not jeopardize the state’s ability to obtain the most qualified personnel or cost-effective contractors.

Davis had been silent on the debate until his veto, which sponsors of Proposition 209 praised.

“I think it is a happy day in the neighborhood,” said Ward Connerly, former chairman of the Proposition 209 campaign. “The governor saw through that sham and vetoed the measure, and I applaud him for keeping his word to the people of California.”

Robert Gnaizda, general counsel for the Greenlining Institute, countered: “I think [Davis] has no civil rights vision. There is no deep commitment to civil rights; he is doing this for a political agenda.” The San Francisco-based institute is a coalition of 38 African American, Asian and Latino organizations.

Davis’ often-stated political agenda is to lead the Democratic Party to the center, partly by respecting voter decisions even when he disagrees with them. But other Democratic leaders say polls indicate that voters who passed Proposition 209 did not intend to eliminate outreach programs--only the quotas that restricted some jobs or contracts to women or minority applicants.

Last year lawmakers passed a similar outreach bill, which was supported by former state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, a Republican, during his run for governor against Davis. Republican Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed the bill, saying Proposition 209 prohibits outreach.

“This places Davis further to the right than Dan Lungren on this issue,” said Oren Sellstrom of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco. “It is a real slap in the face to the voters who elected the governor.”

Once again, the veto puts Davis at odds with his Democratic colleagues in the Legislature, who have become increasingly outspoken about his murky political course and what they see as his lack of respect for their issues.

“At no time was there any indication that this [bill] would be an issue” for the governor, Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) said Wednesday. “I’m disappointed. I think most people thought that it was pretty noncontroversial. This is outreach. It is not quotas. It is just outreach to communities that are under-represented.”

One of the most tangled effects of Davis’ decision involves state agencies that have outreach programs.

Earlier this month, the attorney general filed federal court papers to defend outreach and diversity programs in the state lottery and treasurer’s office. Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides is an independent elected official. But Davis is the boss of the state lottery, which now appears to be in the awkward position of litigating against the governor’s latest policy.