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(2) Florida thru Kansas: State Contractors suffer "reverse discrimination" due to racial set-asides and racial quotas! |
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(2) Florida thru Kansas |
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| By State and City: Florida: [Orlando Sentinel] "Gov. Jeb Bush`s One Florida accountability panel [the non-quota quota panel] gathered in Orlando for its first meeting Monday, and the governor seized the opportunity to report that state spending with minority firms topped $1 billion." White, male-owned firms were excluded from about $1 billion in Florida contracting opportunities, as follows:
Nearly all of the 14 members of Bush's quota commission are women or minorities. During the meeting of the Florida quota commission, Bush administration officials announced the new contracting numbers to illustrate that the governor's "One Florida" program is working better than the old system of quotas and set-asides. Meaning, we suppose, that "non-quotas" have resulted in even larger numbers of white, male-owned firms being excluded from business opportunities in Florida. Windell Paige is the head of Florida's mis-named Office of Supplier Development -- which was formerly and more accurately called the state Minority Business Office. Paige said "strategic alliances between major companies and minority-owned firms are helping to boost opportunities" [provided that the opportunities are reserved for non-white-male-owned businesses.] Florida Governor Jeb Bush's quota commission (which he calls the "One Florida Accountability Commission") is charged with monitoring the progress of "One Florida" over the next three years to assure that blacks, Hispanics, and women continue to be given racial/gender preferences in Florida contracting decisions in spite of the fact that the initiative pretends that it doesn't favor specific minority or gender groups in the conduct of state business. "The nearly all-minority panel praised the results of One Florida thus far but also asked pointed questions of the Board of Regents and the Department of Management Services officials who briefed the commission." Jeb Bush's quota commission, oops, we mean "One Florida Commission", includes seven blacks, six Hispanics and one non-Hispanic white woman. Three quota committe members are from Central Florida, including Bishop Frank C. Cummings of Heathrow, who is chairman; Co-Chairman Cesar Calvet, senior vice president of SunTrust`s Latin Banking Group; and Anna Diaz,principal of University High School. (Based on the Orlando Sentinel story July 25,
2000 by Maria T. Padilla and Scott Powers)
Florida: [Note the Florida Sentinel's prejudicial use of the term "affirmative action". Neither Gov. Jeb Bush nor the Florida Civil Rights Initiative (FCRI) are foes of affirmative action. FCRI in particular is only seeking to end the use of racial and gender quotas and preferences. Editor] "Affirmative-action foes are eagerly awaiting an expected executive order from Gov. Jeb Bush that would ban racial preferences or quotas in state employment, contracting and higher education. "The move might make it unnecessary for the organizers of the Florida Civil Rights Initiative to gather more signatures to put an anti-affirmative action referendum on the 2000 ballot. "But an executive order would be another strike against affirmative action proponents FREE, a statewide coalition which lately has been on the defensive. "Bush, who was in Orlando Wednesday, said an executive order could come in a matter of weeks, and it could encompass points similar to the anti-affirmative action petition. "It might do that, but that's not the intent," Bush said Wednesday. "We want to be sure that we are not supporting policies that discriminate, and that's what the review is about." "The governor ordered a review of affirmative action policies in August with an eye to making changes where needed. Herb Harmon, campaign manager for the civil rights initiative, welcomed the news as a sign of support. "The timing of the governor's expected announcement is crucial to Harmon. "We've publicly stated that it is important for the governor to announce what recommendations he's going to make. Once we've expended the energy and time to go through a Supreme Court review it will be difficult for us to cease," Harmon said. "Last month Harmon submitted four petitions to the state Attorney General's Office, each with more than 40,000 signatures. Three of the petitions would ban racial preferences in public employment, contracting and higher education, while a fourth would ban racial and gender preferences in all three areas.
"Meanwhile, the coalition supporting affirmation action efforts has been suffering
setbacks. Recently, Veronica Anderson, a FREE board member, resigned as head of the
state's minority business program after an inspector general's report said she had used
her office to aid the group, which stands for Floridians Representing Equity and
Equality." (Orlando Sentinel 11/04/99 by Maria T. Padilla)
Florida: TALLAHASSEE - "The head of the state's minority business office has resigned after accusations she improperly used her position to help a political group fight to preserve affirmative action. [Veronica Anderson had used her office to fight the Florida Civil Rights Initiative.] "The resignation came two days after a report by the inspector general for the Department of Labor and Employment Security concluded that Anderson used state employees, tax money and public property to help support the activities of Floridians Representing Equity and Equality. [FREE is a group which strongly opposes the color-blind and gender-blind policies sought by the Florida Civil Rights Initiative.]
"[Florida] Labor Secretary Mary Hooks said she though Anderson's resignation was in
the best interest of the department." (Associated Press, via The Naples Daily
News 10/23/99)
Florida: Florida is shaping up to be the next target for a State Civil Rights Initiative ending use of racial preferences and set-asides. Ward Connerly, godfather of Calif. Prop. 209, and to Washington’s Initiative 200, has begun probing Florida’s use of race-based programs. Connerly released a study of Florida universities showing that racial admissions policies ensure that blacks, for example, have a better chance of being accepted into the state’s public law and medical schools than either white or Hispanic students. Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush is so fearful of losing his minority voting bloc that he has publicly decried Connerly’s efforts. Connerly has already begun lining up Florida businesses and contractors who are willing to put some muscle behind the campaign to end Florida's use of racial set-asides and student admissions. For a complete analysis of Florida 2000 Race Initiative, and current index of news articles, see [http://www.adversity.net/florida/initiative.htm ]
Florida (Boca Raton):
The Boca Raton Airport Authority rejected the low bid from TayCon Construction Management
for a contract to develop property near the airport. Boca Raton was quite clear in
their rejection of TayCon: the firm was 'too white'! Even though TayCon had
the lowest bid, and impeccable qualifications, Boca Raton rejected the firm's bid because
TayCon had not hired the racially required 15% of minority subcontractors required by the
city's racial-quota program. (Sun-Sentinel, 01/20/99, by Brad Bennett)
Florida (Tallahassee): "Ward Connerly, a conservative Sacramento businessman and a regent for the University of California system, believes that Florida voters are ripe to approve a state constitutional amendment banning preferences for women and minorities..." (Miami Herald 11/22/98 - link removed "http://www.herald.com/florida/digdocs/043779.htm") Georgia (Atlanta): [Adversity.Net Special Report] Atlanta's black activist mayor, Bill Campbell, has assembled a corrupt patronage system of racial-quota firms (so-called "disadvantaged business enterprises") which have made huge payments to Campbell's campaign coffers. The FBI has subpoenaed truckloads of Atlanta and Fulton County documents pertaining to corruption, payoffs, bribes, and fake "pass-through" minority firms. City and county officials are resigning and pleading guilty to bribery, corruption, falsified minority invoices, and more. Mayor Campbell had previously vowed "a fight to the death" to maintain his corrupt racial quota programs, but his racially-exclusive and corrupt power base appears to be withering under the scrutiny of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office. [See Adversity.Net Local Link for Details:
Georgia (Augusta): "Augusta-based Roof Management Services has enjoyed a monogamous relationship with the federal government, but now it's flirting with the private sector. "Eric Evans, the man who spent the last two years building the company almost exclusively on affirmative action-based federal contract programs, said his roofing company is ready to branch out. "More than 90 percent of the company's work comes through the U.S. Small Business Administration's Small Disadvantaged Business program. "SDB businesses, which are almost exclusively minority-owned, are given preference over white-owned businesses in procuring most federal contracts. "Mr. Evans' company is working toward certification under SBA's Section 8(a) program, a more stringent classification given only to larger, established minority contractors. "The federal government each year guarantees a certain level of contracts will go to 8(a) firms. In this so-called ``set-aside'' program, 8(a) firms bid only against each other. "Besides, an SDB designation is good for only four years, an 8(a) for nine years. The theory being businesses should ``graduate'' out of the programs and compete against other companies on a level playing field." (The Augusta Chronicle 11/01/99 by Damon Cline) [Editor's Note: According to the SBA's own statistics, up to 58% of so-called disadvantaged companies either went out of business or could not be reached after graduating from SBA's racially-preferential programs between 1994 and 1996. In 1998 alone, the SBA gave $5.9 billion
in non-competed or limited competition contracts to minorities because of their skin color
or gender. There is no similar contract guarantee program for European American
males. -Editor.]
Georgia (Atlanta): "No mediation, no capitulation," said Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell in a press conference on June 15. He was referring to the threat of a suit against the city's affirmative discrimination program, aka the Minority and Female Business Enterprise (MFBE) program. "The mayor might as well have been a modern Gov. George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door. "That's strong stuff, to be sure, but so was Campbell's language in responding to the Southeastern Legal Foundation's request that the city drop the program within 30 days or face legal action against the city, the mayor individually and each member of the City Council. "This mayor, after all, said a few years ago that every successful black person in the nation owed that success to affirmative action. "There's not been anybody who's gotten into a college on their own," he told The New York Times, "nobody who's gotten a job on their own, no one who's prospered as a businessman or businesswoman on their own without affirmative action." "The statement demeans every hard-working black man or woman who bootstrapped their way through college at the head of the class or passed the bar exam on the first try or started a company and never did a dime's worth of business with the government. "Matt Glavin and the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a mainstream public interest law firm, moved on the Atlanta program when the ink barely was dry on the order by U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash striking down Fulton County's program of awarding contracts based on racial and gender goals. "The legal foundation has won, by suit or by threat, the dismantling of similar programs in the Atlanta public schools, DeKalb County, and Nashville, Tenn and of the DeKalb school busing program.
" [Judge] Thrash, a Democratic appointee to the federal bench, was following U.S.
Supreme Court precedent. Programs based solely on race violate the 14th Amendment
demanding equal protection for all. Specifically, Thrash's latest ruling dismissed the
racial disparity study used as the basis for the Fulton County plan, the same rationale
used by the city of Atlanta." (Atlanta Business Chronicle, 06/21/99 by Dick
Williams) (See also next story:
"Fulton County")
Georgia (Fulton County): [Editor's note: On July 19, 2000 Judge Tom Thrash's ruling was upheld in a unanimous ruling by the appeals court. For complete details on the appellate court ruling, see Fulton County Quota Ban Upheld.] June 12, 1999 -- "A federal judge Friday struck down a Fulton County program that reserves some county work for firms owned by women and minorities. "In a 55-page decision, U.S. District Judge Tom Thrash ruled that Fulton County is "permanently enjoined from using racial, ethnic or gender participation goals in accepting or rejecting bids, determining whether bidders are responsive and responsible bidders and in the awarding of Fulton County contracts." "Matthew Glavin, president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, which forced Atlanta public schools to agree to a two-year ban on mandatory hiring goals last year, said: 'This puts Atlanta and MARTA in a very vulnerable position if they don't end their [racial quota and preference] programs.' " Glavin said he will demand that Atlanta dismantle its racial quota and preference programs.
In order to have its quota/preference programs upheld by the court, Fulton County would
have had to prove during "the trial last month that it had systematically
discriminated against women and minorities in the past." Judge Thrash was
unable to find any evidence of such discrimination. (The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution 06/12/99 by Alfred Charles) End State Set-Asides (2) Florida thru Kansas Page |
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