Washington State Civil Rights Initiative
I-200 News Archive
Stories from 1999, 1998

"WIF research analyst Robert E. Holland said the statistics put out by the UW showing a decrease in admissions does not pertain to I-200. He thinks students simply decided not to apply or enroll. ... Opponents of I-200 thought otherwise. Last Thursday, the Seattle Human Rights Commission and Seattle City Councilman Peter Steinbruek co-sponsored a public forum entitled, Six Months after I-200: Challenges and Opportunities.. Deputy Mayor Maud Daudon, King County Counsilman Larry Gossett, Port of Seattle Director Yvonne Tate and UW Associate Director for Undergraduate Admissions Enrique Morales attended the forum. All had reported significant decreases of minority and women recruitment within their respective agencies. ... Students may not be the only ones affected by I-200 at the UW. Helen Remmick, assistant provost for equal opportunity said it is too early to tell if I-200 will significantly affect the hiring of faculty, staff, employees and contractors. ... According to the UW's Interim I-200 Employment Policies, the UW is permitted to make special outreach efforts and sponsor programs targeted to increase the pool of qualified minorities and women applicants. Plans are underway to increase the extent and effectiveness of these efforts."  (The Daily Daeha Ko The Daily, University of Washington, 06/23/99, by Bruce Jarrell)
[link http://www.thedaily.washington.edu/archives/1999_Summer/Jun.23.99/N1.sixmonthsa.html ]

Clinton to Honor Gov. Locke for His Opposition to Equal Treatment! (05/11/99)
          WASHINGTON - "Gov. Gary Locke will be honored tonight for leading the losing fight to save [reverse discrimination] programs in his state.

          "President Clinton is expected to attend the awards dinner in the nation's capital, Locke's office said yesterday. Three other people also will be honored.

          "The Democratic governor, a Chinese American who has said he benefited from affirmative-action programs, will receive the annual Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Locke will be honored for pulling together and leading a coalition to oppose Initiative 200, the anti-[racial quotas & preferences] measure that Washington state voters approved last November."  (Associated Press, via Seattle Times, 05/11/99)
[link http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/lock_19990511.html ]

UW makes enrolling minorities a priority (05/11/99)
          "The University of Washington is so concerned about losing minority students that deans, vice presidents and even the UW president have personally called every minority student selected for admission in an effort to persuade them to attend the school.

          "The effort is an aggressive extension of a program the university began three years ago, in which student volunteers placed telephone calls to greet each in-state applicant accepted for the next year's freshman class.

          "This year, for the first time, those calls are going to all of the roughly 9,000 students offered a place in the 1999-2000 class. And the UW Admissions Office has issued lists of minority students who have been admitted to the deans of every college at the university. The deans have called those students to answer questions about the university and encourage them to attend."  (Seattle Times 05/11/99 by Roberto Sanchez)
[link http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/call_19990511.html ] 

"Secret" Gift of $50,000 Opposing I-200 May Have Been Illegal!  (04/24/99)
          OLYMPIA -- "A Seattle couple yesterday identified themselves as the anonymous donors who funneled $50,000 to the campaign against Initiative 200 through a non-profit foundation last year.

          "David Foecke and Pat Close, part-owners of the Cafe Flora restaurant, stepped forward yesterday as the Public Disclosure Commission charged them and the foundation, A Territory Resource, with violating state law prohibiting anonymous political contributions.

          "The PDC has scheduled a Tuesday hearing on the case.

          "The Public Disclosure Commission has spent several months investigating A Territory Resource, and went to court to force the foundation to reveal the donors. The couple eventually agreed to submit to questioning by PDC investigators.  If they are found to have violated the law, they could face fines."  (Seattle Post-Intelligencer 04/24/99 by Robert Gavin)
[link http://www.seattle-pi.com/pi/local/pdc24.shtml ]

UW's scholarship plan adapts to Initiative 200 (04/17/99)
          "The University of Washington has adopted a new policy on scholarships that will allow it to use race and gender to give out targeted scholarships and to accept money from donors for such programs. The Board of Regents unanimously approved the policy yesterday. It is meant to comply with Initiative 200, which banned the use of race preferences in state hiring, contracting and education.

          "The new policy will keep all existing scholarships that target students by gender, ethnicity, race and national origin. But it will also review them for compliance with state and federal law and the UW policy.

          "The UW will keep accepting money for [racially] targeted scholarships from donors. But it will create "diversity pools" of candidates selected on merit and other neutral factors such as economic need, but not race or gender. Then it will match qualified recipients in those pools by the donor's wishes, which could include race or gender. If no qualified students match the criteria, no scholarship will be given out.

          "The new policy will even allow the university to use race and gender and other diversity indicators to give out scholarships meant to increase diversity, including funds to recruit students. It may do so only after it exhausts all other means to maintain or increase diversity at the campus."  (Seattle Times 04/17/99 by Roberto Sanchez)
[link http://www.seattletimes.com/news/education/html98/rege_19990417.html ]

Secret Anti-200 Donor Is Still Flouting The Law  (03/09/99)
          "HEY, Nameless. Yeah, you - the one with your head buried under a high-priced paper bag. Looks like your secret's still safe. But not forgotten.

          "Nine months ago, you gave $50,000 to the anti-Initiative 200 campaign. The No!200 group reported that the check came from A Territory Resource (ATR), the ultraliberal philanthropy foundation turned quasi-money launderer for the well-to-do. Times reporter Tom Brune found out that the hefty political contribution was actually given by you with a specific request that ATR pass it on to No!200 and conceal your name as a condition of the transaction.

          "ATR took your big bucks, but stipulated in writing that it wouldn't make formal promises to you about how the money was spent. Heavens, no. Such explicit earmarking of money for a ballot initiative would be illegal.

          "State campaign-finance officials finally decided to track you down in November after I-200 supporter Kirk Robbins filed a formal complaint. "The public has a right to know what kinds of favors, if any, are being extracted here," Robbins told me yesterday.  'If campaign disclosure laws are to have any relevancy at all, that information needs to be available before an election.'  (Seattle Times, by Michelle Malkin, 03/09/00)
[link http://www.seattletimes.com/news/editorial/html98/malk_19990309.html ]

U. Washington Reverse Discrimination Suit Affected by I-200 (02/10/99)
          "U.S. District Court Judge Thomas S. Zilly today ruled that the passage of I-200 by Washington State voters last November renders moot portions of CIR's legal challenge of current admissions procedures [at the University of Washington]. Plaintiffs Katuria Smith, Angela Rock, and Michael Pyle still will be able to challenge the constitutionality of the UW admissions system used at the time of their applications and will be able to obtain damages if that system is determined to be unlawful.

          "Judge Zilly also de-certified the lawsuit as a class action, holding that claims for injunctive and declaratory relief were necessary for the lawsuit to continue as a class action proceeding.

          "CIR had argued that the case should proceed in its entirety in view of the fact that state officials continue to disagree about the scope of racial preferences banned by I-200. CIR is reviewing Judge Zilly's order and will determine at the appropriate time whether to appeal some or all of it."  (CIR 02/10/99)
[link http://www.adversity.net/cirnews.htm ]

Black Doctors Convention Boycotts Racial Equality in Seattle (02/02/99)
          Whatever happened to "First, do no harm?"  These doctors firmly believe in the use of racial quotas and they are so ticked off at Washington State for passing I-200 that they have cancelled their convention in Seattle. 

          Amazingly, Lorraine Cole, the executive director of the race-based doctor’s organization, said "Such legislative enactment is counter to the basic tenets upon which the National Medical Association was founded more than 100 years ago.'' Really?  Guess the black docs don’t care too much about the Constitution or about the Hippocratic Oath!

          "In November, nearly 60 percent of Washington state voters approved Initiative 200, although a majority within Seattle voted no. It bars state and local governments from giving preferential treatment to women and minorities in contracts, jobs or public higher education.  John Carlson, who headed the drive to put the initiative on the ballot, said the medical association's decision is 'their loss.'  Carlson continued 'Unless their organization was founded on the tenets of racial quotas and preferences, they are seriously misreading Initiative 200 because that's all that prohibits,' he said."  (Fox News, 02/02/99)
[link http://www.foxnews.com/js_index.sml?content=/news/wires2/0202/n_ap_0202_298.sml ]

Parent challeges race-based admissions in Seattle schools (01/30/99)
          "Seattle Public Schools still use race as a factor in school assignments, but one parent is threatening to sue, saying the practice violates Initiative 200's ban on the use of racial preferences.

          "Seattle lawyer Pat Brown, who is trying to get his son into Olympic View Elementary School's popular all-day kindergarten, says that the school’s use of race is illegal even though it is only one of three factors considered by the district in admissions. "The district to some extent should be colorblind," says Brown, who is white.

          "If Brown files suit, it could develop into the first legal test of Initiative 200, the law passed by voters Nov. 3. The law bans preferences based on race, ethnicity and gender in state and local public employment, contracting and education. (Seattle Times, 01/30/99, by Lynne K. Varner)
[link http://www.seattletimes.com/news/education/html98/race_013099.html ]

Affirmative action lives after I-200! (12/04/98)
          "Gov. Gary Locke says Washington State University can retain many diversity initiatives under a new law banning race and gender hiring" in spite of Initiative 200's banning race and gender preferences.  (Spokane.Net, AP 12/04/98)
[link www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=120498&ID=s494220&cat= ]

Locke seeks middle ground between diversity and I-200 law  (12/01/98)
          "Much of the state's affirmative-action machinery - everything from outreach to (racial/gender) goals - should continue when Initiative 200 becomes law" according to Gov. Gary Locke.   (Seattle Times 12/01/98)
[ link http://archives.seattletimes.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?storyID=102403&query=affirmative+action ]
[ alternate link http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/init_120198.html ]

Tacoma port drops program for minorities  (11/26/98)
          "Responding to the mandate of ... Initative 200, Port of Tacoma commissioners have voted to drop the agency's woman and minority support programs".  (Associated Press, via Spokane.Net 11/26/98)

Increasing Support for Initiatives Banning Racial Preferences  (11/23/98)
          "When people (in the future) look back, they will see this as a new era in civil rights," said Carlson, who is host of an Internet talk program in Seattle. "After decades of magnifying race through preference programs, this new era maximizes race and focuses affirmative action on people's circumstances rather than their skin color."

          "Supporters of Washington's Initiative 200, which bans race and gender preferences in government hiring, contracting and school admissions, say their Nov. 3 triumph with 58 percent of the vote demonstrates that the campaign resonated with mainstream voters and shows that the measure's model, California's Proposition 209, was not an anomaly."  (Chicago Tribune 11-23-98, by V. Dion Haynes)
[ link http://chicagotribune.com/version1/article/0,1575,SAV-9811230189,00.html ]

Seattle schools drop racial contracting goals  (11/20/98)
          Following the overwhelming victory of the voters in passing Initiative 200 on 11/3/98 which eliminated racial quotas and preferences in Washington State's business and academic contracting, the Seattle School Board has suspended its contracting "goals" for contracting with women- and minority-owned businesses.  (Associated Press, via Spokane.Net 11/20/98)

Racial Quotas in Washington Not Necessarily Dead   (11/09/98)
          It is all a matter of 'wording' or 'definition'.  Quota supporters in this state have decided that they can avoid the legal mandate of I-200's passage by simply re-wording their racial quota programs.   For example, instead of "race", the state is considering using income level, status of parents, geographic location, and educational performance as measures of "prior discrimination".  (Seattle Times 11/09/98)

Quota Supporters Gird for New Battles in Other States  (11/06/98)
          Following the Nov. '98 passage of I-200 in Washington State, the NAACP and the Urban League are considering how to avoid "color-blind" laws being implemented in other states.  (Associated Press 11/06/98)

University admission policy is changed  (11/06/98)
          Thanks to passage of I-200, the University of Washington is immediately suspending the use of race and sex as factors in admissions decisions!  59% of state voters approved I-200 on Tuesday.   (Washington Times 11/06/98)

New battle begins:   interpreting I-200  (11/04/98)
          The voters overwhelmingly approved I-200!  Now the government attorneys and the frightened quota-politicians began worrying about how to avoid implementing I-200!  They are working overtime to find ways to block the restoration of "color-blind" State contracting and hiring policies.  (Seattle Times 11/04/98)

I-200 PASSES! (dead link) (11/04/98)
          Congratulations to the citizen-voters of Washington State!  The historic ballot initiative was passed in the Nov. 3 elections.  (Washington Post 11/4/98 -- dead link / link removed)

Fairness Triumphs in Washington State (Editorial)  (11/04/98) (dead link)
          "...the citizens of Washington struck a blow for racial equality, common sense, and the American way by approving..." Initiative 200!  (New York Post 11/03/98)
[former link *http://www.nypost.com/editorial/6067.htm ]

Wash. Blacks Are 50/50 on Initiative 200  (10/23/98)
          Blacks only account for 3.4% of the state population.  Many voters think blacks are unanimous in opposing I-200.   But many Washington State black voters do NOT embrace "quotas" and may vote in favor of I-200!  This article is a thoughtful analysis of this issue from the perspective of the black citizen.  (Seattle Times 10/23/98)

Wash. State Lawyers Attempt to Derail I-200!  (10/22/98)
          Responding to pressure from Boeing and other wealthy opponents to I-200, the Washington State Attorney General's office has fabricated "broad legal issues" in an attempt to frighten voters away from voting YES on I-200!  (Seattle Times 10/22/98)

Washington Public Disclosure Commission 'Disallows' "Pro" I-200 Ads!  (10/20/98) (dead link)
          Submitting to pressure from vested State "quota" interests, the Washington Public Disclosure Commission has declared that educational ads supporting a 'color-blind' society (via I-200) are political, and must be declared as such.  Washington State threatens the ads' sponsor, the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) with revocation of their IRS non-profit status.  The supporters of quotas will stoop to any trick!  (Seattle Times 10/20/98)

Info:  Background on the Washington State Civil Rights Initiative:   [former link *http://www.halcyon.com/equality/index.html ]

Info:  The "Houston Strategy" (Adversity.Net, this site):  Houston Civil Rights Initiative

Info:  Support I-200 to END racial quotas at the University of Washington!  The Center for Individual Rights' has sued the University of Washington Law School on behalf of white students who have been rejected for racial reasons!  If you need more reasons to support I-200, read about UW Law School applicant Katuria Smith who was rejected because she is not a minority.  CIR has sued on her behalf:

                         Wall Street Journal Editorial (Sept. 3, 1998)
                         St. Petersburg Times Op-Ed (Sept. 6, 1998)
                         More About the Katuria Smith Case

I-200 Foes Leading Battle of the Checkbook (Seattle Times 10/14/98)
          Supporters of racial quotas have amassed a huge advertising budget in the final three weeks of the I-200 battle.   Their goal?  "Scare the hell out of white women", according to Ward Connerly, the godfather of California's similar, successful proposition.

Will I-200 Vote Resolve Affirmative Action Debate?  (Seattle Times 9/24/98)

Initiatives Polarize Washington State Voters (Washington Post 9/26/98)  A reasonably balanced account of the issues surrounding I-200.  The normally liberal Washington Post even avoided using the conservative's code phrase "seeks to end Affirmative Action" because, of course, I-200 does not seek to end Affirmative Action.  Includes a reasonable discussion of the semantic difference between "ending racial quotas" (which I-200 seeks to do) and "ending Affirmative Action" (which I-200 does not seek to do).  The Post deserves credit for it's fairness and objectivity in this regard.

Black Employee Charges Anti I-200 Boeing with Racism (Seattle Times 9/29/98)
          Boeing opposes I-200, and seeks to keep "racial quotas" in place.  Boeing black employee Jesse Jones didn't think Boeing's Affirmative Action Plan was promoting him fast enough, so Jones violated the confidentiality of other employees' personnel records, searching for "proof" that he was being paid less than "whites".  Turns out he was being paid the same or more!  It is ironic that Boeing now finds itself in federal court defending against charges of racism by one of its "favored" AA minorities.

END: I-200 Archives 1999, 1998

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