The Public Policy: Pete Wilson's Finest Hour
Eastland, Terry
"The Public Policy: Pete Wilson's Finest Hour" by Terry Eastland Pete Wilson's Finest Hour pete Wilson is no longer a presidential candidate, but the California governor has managed to demonstrate the relevance of executive...
...Wilson's office highlighted programs eliminated as a result of his order...
...I suggest that we take Gamaliel's advice to heart...
...women and persons of racial and ethnic backgrounds" in all university jobs...
...His new book, Ending Affirmative Action: The Case for Colorblind Justice, will be published by Basic Books in the spring...
...I've seen too much that defies explanation to fight over the inexplicable...
...On its own initiative, the agency had increased that figure to 27 percent...
...For example, one law requires all state agencies to establish affirmative action programs designed to achieve racial and ethnic proportionality in their work forces...
...In passing this law, however, the California legislature made no findings of discrimination against those the agencies would prefer in order to achieve proportionality...
...Granted, Wilson supported preferences for many years, but he did start changing his mind before late 199+ having vetoed several pieces of pro-preference legislation earlier in the decade...
...No doubt with an eye on the presidential race, Wilson's staff touted his executive order, claiming not improbably that he was the "nation's first governor to issue an executive order rolling back affirmative action...
...The legislature was quite specific, however, about which groups it wished to target: an ethnic person of color and who is: Black (a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa...
...action "performance recognition" awards, and the incentives they create to discriminate...
...Wilson, who is chairman of the board of regents, deserved a major portion of the credit for its decision...
...It also did away with affirmative TERRY EASTLAND is editor of Forbes Media-Critic...
...Pacific-Asian (a person whose origins are from Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Samoa, Guam, or the United States Trust Territories of the Pacific, including the Northern Marianas...
...And Caltrans had been making purchases under $500 from minority- and women-owned businesses, with no firms owned by people of the "wrong" race or sex allowed to compete...
...The case could be sent to a trial court, where supporters of the various statutes might be allowed to offer "evidence" of discrimination not demonstrated by the legislatures that passed them...
...or any other group of natural persons identified as minorities in the respective project specifications of an awarding department or participating local agency...
...a quota, after all, represents the sum of one or more instances of preferential treatment...
...To promote conditions under which that might be done, the order abolished the many councils, committees, and boards—some zoo mainstays of the affirmative action culture—that had long advised the government on "diversity" issues...
...Asian-Indian (a person whose origins are from India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh...
...The directive condemns not only numerical quotas but also preferential treatment, recognizing that it is the act of favoring one person over another on the basis of race or sex that is the essential evil...
...Again, in passing thelaw, the legislature offered no findings of discrimination against the minorities targeted for preferential treatment...
...It hasn't been for over a year...
...Native American (an American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, or Native Hawaiian...
...What to make of all this...
...The forestry department had been reserving 5o percent of its seasonal positions for minorities and women...
...The justification for a preference, the Court has elaborated, must be rooted in specific findings of discrimination...
...Hispanic (a per(Continued on page 78) Satisfy YourThirst...
...According to the Supreme Court's decision in City of Richmond v. Croson (1989), a state must have a compelling reason for adopting a racial preference, and the preference must be "narrowly tailored" to minimize its discriminatory impact...
...But there were some programs that, owing to the legal authorities under which they operated, could be only partially changed...
...7,- Moo Cc Up Useful .oettlert,te., ,re y. Lth c ,961,Nee...
...Ergo, it does not lend itself to a sound bite or thirty second news clip...
...Outbreaks" are allegedly being reported all over the world, even the former Soviet Union...
...And that includes things that had no connection to religion or faith at all...
...That decision has been appealed to the state supreme court...
...60 January 1996 • The American Spectator had symbolic importance, since UC had been the defendant in the 1978 Bakke case in which the Supreme Court had approved the use of race in admissions...
...In August he filed a lawsuit to invalidate a group of state statutes requiring or encouraging preferences in employment and contracting...
...Still, the lawsuit, at the very least, would have served to focus attention on key state laws that, despite their patent unconstitutionality, reveal the extent to which the state is mired in the affirmative action swamp...
...He had vigorously lobbied the board members, and he did not flinch from vicious personal attacks accusing him of racism...
...Since an executive order cannot trump an act of the California legislature, or, for that matter, federal law, there were limits to what Wilson could do...
...For the moment, his labors deserve notice...
...Wilson filed his suit in a state appellate court, which declined to take it...
...Wilson issued an executive order in June that repealed executive orders signed by three previous governors—including Ronald Reagan and George Deukmejian—whose imprecise language had assisted the rise of race- and sex-based affirmative action throughout California state government...
...No other governor has done so much to challenge preferences, nor has any governor had so much success...
...But within those limits he went about as far as his office allowed, commanding all state agencies, departments, boards, and commissions to "eliminate all state preferential treatment requirements that exceed federal statutory or regulatory, or state statutory requirements...
...32 Pages of Full—Color Maps, Flags, and News Photos ^ New: E—Mail Addresses and Internet Access Guide ^ Ten Most Dramatic Sports Events of 1995 ^ The Only Almanac That Gives You All the Facts World Almanac® an imprint of Funk & Wagnalls a K—Ill Communications Company The American Spectator • January 1996 61 to "hysterical outpourings," I could only conclude that something that defies empirical explanation was at work...
...Wilson's order forced Caltrans to push the figure down to percent, and no more...
...Wilson was limited in another area: He could not, on his own authority, end preferences in higher education...
...Under federal law, for example, Cal-trans was required toaward to minority firms some io percent of federal contracting dollars...
...In that event, the litigation could drag on, the end uncertain...
...and our new Web Site: HTTP://www.amspec.com/tas/home.html Send Letters to the Editor, Correspondence and Subscription queries to our E-Mail address: amspec@ix.netcom.com • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 78 January r9 9 6 • The American Spectator...
...now that he is not running for president, we'll see whether his commitment to battling preferences endures...
...Nor did the legislature make such findings when it enacted a statute requiring the board of each community college district to establish affirmative action goals for hiring and promoting "persons who are underrepresented in the work force compared to their number inthe population, including...
...Under relevant Supreme Court rulings these statutes are unconstitutional, as Wilson concluded...
...If you don't think it's "real," don't fight it because if it's not of God it will die out of its own accord...
...Consider, for example, the law requiring agencies and departments to award to minorities a certain percentage of contracts for commodities, services, and construction...
...And it should be noted that the "Toronto Blessing" is not restricted to Toronto anymore...
...ROBERT K. MORGAN Fairfield, ConnecticutPete Wilson's Finest Hour (Continued from page 61) son of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin regardless of race...
...Not to mention the fact that the media's own polls relate that the majority of their members wouldn't be caught deadnear a church, let alone a church that could possibly be affiliated with the dreaded "Christian Right...
...But the regents' decision represented a first in its own right, since no other public university had decided to forgo preferences...
...If it is of God, no amount of debate or resistance will stop it from continuing or developing...
...Whether people "believe it or riot," it won' t stop it...
...Wilson's executive labors, taken last summer, were reported at the time...
...the state constitution prohibits the executive's non-enforcement of a statute unless an appellate court has ruled it is indeed unconstitutional...
...As for why the media has largely ignored this phenomenon, one ignores what one doesn't understand or can't explain...
...The statutes involving contracting that Wilson challenges are laughably unconstitutional...
...AS YOU EXPLORE THE INTERNET, visit AmericanSpedator...
...Chalk up another one for Gamaliel...
...But perhaps because of his decision in September to bench himself as a presidential candidate, they have been insufficiently parsed...
...Even friendly critics have said that Wilson's actions against affirmative action should be taken with more than a grain of salt...
...Wilson's lawsuit shows how California statutes are at odds with what the Supreme Court demands...
...The order plainly supports nondiscriminatory recruitment, but just as plainly insists that hiring and contracting decisions must be based on merit...
...Anyone in the country belonging to one of these minorities would be eligible for preferential treatment in the Golden State...
...He could have asked the legislature to repeal them, but there was no chance the Democratic legislature would have agreed...
...Presidential ambition probably moved Wilson to be ,more aggressive in taking on affirmative action than he otherwise would have been...
...This phenomenon defies "rational" or "empirical" explanation...
...The water resources department had been setting aside two-thirds of all student internships for minorities...
...Appointed boards manage the affairs of the community college, California State University and University of California systems...
...And—unlike a president—Wilson did not have the option of simply refusing to enforce laws he deemed unconstitutional...
...A governor can only do so much...
...C.,,,,Iricele'sne and Intorno( Acre, G...
...There was still more to Wilson's attack on affirmative action...
...And the fact that the University of California, arguably the finest public university in the country, was doing away with preferences g The legacy of a principled presidential run...
...otherwise, the preference is unconstitutional...
...On July 19, the board of regents for the most selective of the three systems, the University of California, voted to end preferences in both student admissions and faculty and staff employment...
...THE PUBLIC POLICY by Terry Eastland Pete Wilson's Finest Hour pete Wilson is no longer a presidential candidate, but the California governor has managed to demonstrate the relevance of executive power to the formidable task of ending affirmative action...
...And as I have been in the business of gathering, researching, and analyzing "intelligence" for over thirteen years, I always attempt to place "rational explanations" regarding "erratic occurrences...
...The case is unusual, and judges are generally loath to hold a statute unconstitutional...
...But Wilson, who as governor appoints members of those boards, could and did ask them to comply with his order...
...That Wilson could not go further shows that action against affirmative action is needed above all at the federal level...
...To take a quote attributed to Gamaliel in the Book of Acts, he stated : "but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it —lest you even be found to fight against God...
Vol. 29 • January 1996 • No. 1
