Post-424: Minority Contracts Imperiled in Nebraska

Matthew Hansen of the Omaha World Herald has an article on the impact of the recently passed anti-affirmative action ballot initiative (Proposition 424) on state-level contracts for minority-owned and female-owned businesses in Nebraska.

Omaha city leaders hope - but can't guarantee - that minority-owned companies will get contracts to help build the new downtown ballpark this year.

That's a marked change from a decade ago, when the Omaha City Council mandated that at least $5.7 million in contracts go to women and minorities during the construction of the Qwest Center Omaha. The difference: Nebraska's new ban on affirmative action.

The ban, upheld in court last week, has halted the City of Omaha's protected business enterprise program, which for years shuttled a small part of giant public works contracts to minority- and female-owned businesses.

It also has sent the city and the University of Nebraska scrambling as they end programs that clearly violate the law, tweak scholarship requirements and strip from hiring policies newly banned language that mentions race, ethnicity or gender.

This seems to confirm what we feared, that the measure will make it harder for the state to develop mechanisms to address the historic inequalities faced by women and minorities when it comes to getting equal access to state resources/contracts.

Any thoughts?

"Kill This Petition": Omaha World Herald Slams Anti-Affirmative Action Petition

Omaha World Herald - June 5, 2008

"Kill this petition"
Radio ad is odious; Connerly petition effort deserves defeat.

The approach outside an Omaha drugstore seemed simple enough. It started with two questions:

"Excuse me, sir, are you a registered voter?"

"Yes."

"Would you sign a petition to eliminate all gender and race discrimination in Nebraska?"

Wow.

The approach was from a paid petition-gatherer for the "American Civil Rights Institute," a California organization seeking to eliminate affirmative action in states across the country.

Certainly, the notion of eliminating "all gender and race discrimination in Nebraska" is quite desirable. But that is not at all what this effort is about.

The petition seeks to amend Nebraska's Constitution so that it prohibits all consideration of race, ethnicity and gender in hiring, scholarship or contracting decisions made by public agencies, including the University of Nebraska system.

That means it would be forbidden to provide scholarships to benefit African-American students. Or women. It also means it would be prohibited to promote the growth of minority-owned or female-owned businesses through the awarding of contracts for that purpose.

Such prohibitions would be bad for Nebraska and bad for the university system.

The petition-getherers now have resorted to a radio commercial that features controversial rhetoric from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright (of Barack Obama fame) and refers to the "bitter rhetoric" of State Sen. Ernie Chambers.

Whether or not you agree with the positions of Sen. Chambers (the only African-American member of the Nebraska Legislature), the focal point of debate should be policy, not the Omaha senator. And Wright, a Chicagoan, has no relevance at all to this Nebraska debate.

How ironic that the ad, which calls for Nebraskans to "reject the politics of race and hate," itself shamelessly stokes racial resentment. Meanwhile, the outsiders who have made high-dollar contributions to the promotional campaign can blithely walk away, having done their best to work Nebraskans into a frenzy along racial lines.

If ever there was a petition effort that disgraced itself with its own words, this is it. The radio ad doesn't merely take the low road. It takes the lowest road.

What is happening is that California businessman Ward Connerly is attempting to foist his will on the people of Nebraska with a race-fixated drive to change our constitution.

With the unveiling of this remarkably ugly ad, one would hope the scales would fall from Nebraskans' eyes about the nature of the outside interests involved in the circulation campaign. These outsiders have now made clear to which lengths they're willing to go in whipping up racial tension and anger.

The radio ad is vile, and the petition drive is wrong. It doesn't "eliminate" discrimination; it enables discrimination. The Nebraska Legislature saw through this and rejected putting this on the ballot via the legislative process.

Don't buy into this garbage. Don't sign the petition. It's bad for Nebraska.

Racially Divisive Appeal by Anti-Affirmative Action Group in Nebraska

Here is the new radio spot being aired in our state as a part of the purposefully deceptive campaign that is being waged by extreme Right-wing interests from outside our state to end affirmative action. As I've written before, the purpose of the so-called Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative is to coopt the language and symbolism of the civil rights movement to achieve the exact opposite end. The group uses the nice sounding rhetoric of "colorblindness" to eliminate all reasonable measures our state has developed over the years to help overcome historic inequalities and discrimination.

Here is the radio ad:


Notice the irony here: The group claims to be all about colorblindness, and eliminating racial mechanisms, yet it is making an explicitly divisive racial (racist) appeal, trading on white racial resentment, by linking Jeremiah Wright with our lone black legislator, Ernie Chambers. Note that it also makes the not-so-subtle link between whiteness, hard-work and merit, thereby suggesting that African American success and achievement are NOT associated with those things.. Sadly, while this ad trades openly on racial (racist) division, those who will be most hurt if this measure passes are most likely white women, the largest recipients of affirmative action and other ameliorative public measures in our state and across the country.

To date, signature gatherers in Nebraska have lied, distorted facts, misrepresented themselves and the petition, not followed state guidelines, etc. A quick story, we were at the grocery store in a more affluent suburban area of Lincoln not too long ago and there were two paid signature gatherers outside. The one was an obnoxious and deceptive white guy, blubbering on about how this was about equality. The other was a quiet young woman sitting at a table not really bothering anyone. I walked up to her and told I respected her as a person and her need for a summer job, but that she might want to look more deeply into the campaign she was supporting because, as a woman, she was only hurting herself. I then explained a few of the basics to her about the folks behind the campaign, the purposefully deceptive approach they take, their manipulation of the civil rights movement, etc. As I spoke, she got this terrified look in her eyes and said, "I'm Latina, as well." I replied, "then this is doubly bad for you." She thanked me for explaining things to her and promised she was going home and checking it out further. It was clear she had been sold a bill of goods and was feeling like a damn fool. I suspect that was her last day collecting signatures.

This is an odious effort. If you see a petition gatherer, DECLINE TO SIGN! And, tell your neighbors and friends to DECLINE TO SIGN, as well.

For more information, or to report deceptive tactics by signature gatherers, please go here.

UPDATE: Since Justin asked about Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative graphics, here is one:
Now that I look at this graphic, maybe I've got this whole thing wrong. Maybe it's not so bad... clearly, if this ballot initiative passes, inter-racial groupings of kids will be eating ice cream together all over our state! (smile)

Decline to Sign

Deceptive Tactics Continue in Anti-Affirmative Action Effort

The following entry is a reprint of an entry by Kyle Michaelis over at the New Nebraska Network blog...

This just in from a NNN reader in Columbus. It shouldn't come as any surprise that Nebraskans are seeing some very suspicious and outright deceptive tactics being used to gather enough signatures to place a constitutional amendment to end affirmative action on the November ballot:

Thought you might want to hear about petition gatherers tactics in the Columbus area.
I went to Wal-mart this morning (not my first choice of retailers but there isn't a whole lot to choose from here) and noticed a table set up outside one of the doors. The table had two small signs saying:

"SIGN UP TODAY"
"Are you concerned about jobs?"

Then it had some smaller print that I couldn't read as I rushed past the table knowing what this person was trying to pull on the customers. When I came out of the store, I heard the pitch:
"Are you concerned about jobs in Nebraska? Sign up today to eliminate gender and race as a factor in hiring decisions."

The scruffy, homeless looking, mid-twenty year old was only making this pitch to white, middle-aged men.

In this instance, the petition gatherers appear to have completely obscured the fact that this amendment would only affect hiring decisions by the state and by those contracting with the state. Of course, there's a very good chance they didn't understand that distinction for themselves. Such matters are of little concern when they're just trying to make a buck and some misleading language playing on Nebraskans' economic fears can help them to that effect.

I'd assume this "scruffy, homeless-looking" gentlemen was one of the out-of-state, paid petition-gatherers those orchestrating this effort were so excited about bringing to Nebraska after it was reported they'd failed with similar efforts in Oklahoma and Missouri. If this story is any indication, it seems they've also brought with them the same types of deception and fraud employed in those other states.

It's up to us to remain vigilant and strong if such tactics are to meet with a similar fate, failing in Nebraska as well.

Paul Singer and the "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy"

Nebraska is one of five states being targeted this year by a petition drive aimed at putting a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that deceptively employs the language of the civil rights movement to ban affirmative action in public programs.

Kyle Michaelis over at The New Nebraska Network has written an important piece about who is behind this divisive campaign (and other hard-Right efforts, like the Swiftboaters, etc.). Check it out and pass it along... This is not a parochial issue. Paul Singer represents the kind of sleaze and slime that has been behind much of the hard Right's agenda nationwide over the past many years... Please take some time and give this article a read.

Anti-Affirmative Action Petition Funded By Corrupt New York Billionaire
by: Kyle Michaelis
Thu Mar 06, 2008 at 12:36:26 PM CST

NNN Special Report Reveals Another Attempt At Buying State's Constitution

We've heard this one before. Really, what else is new? In the summer of 2006, the original New Nebraska Network was weeks ahead of the mainstream Nebraska press in exposing the labyrinth of right-wing front organizations funded by New York billionaire Howard Rich to put the Initiative 423 state spending cap on the Nebraska ballot.

More than $2 million flowed into Nebraska politics from that same polluted source, but the people wisely refused to give up control of our state government to a formula concocted by wealthy right-wing extremists. In fact, despite all the out-of-state money that poured into Nebraska, Initiative 423 did not even receive 30% of the vote.

Fast forward to 2008, and we can already see some shockingly similar parallels in the supposed movement to end public affirmative action programs for women and racial minorities. The petition effort sponsored by the so-called Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative (NCRI) is underway, needing to gather approximately 115,000 signatures from registered voters before the July deadline.

Last week, State Senator Mark Christensen pulled the plug on his concurrent effort to put the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot by a vote of the Nebraska Legislature. That didn't stop the American Civil Rights Coalition's Ward Connerly from visiting the state, making controversial appearances at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska-Omaha while working behind the scenes to coordinate NCRI's activities with efforts in four other states pushing nearly identical anti-affirmative action measures.

In 2006, the national network of local front groups supporting spending caps were named Stop Over Spending [insert state here]. In 2008, we have the [insert state here] Civil Rights Initiative. The other states where Connerly has set up shop for this election cycle are Colorado, Missouri, Arizona, and Oklahoma. Shouldn't that make Nebraska feel special?

But, what's important to remember about Connerly is that he's just a convenient face and a willing shill in this fight against affirmative action. In fact, as he confessed to his audience at UNL, Connerly is quite well paid for his work with the American Civil Rights Coalition, earning at least $300,000 a year.

As with the 2006 spending lid proposals, true power lies with those who are actually paying the bills. In 2006, that was Howard Rich - a billionaire New York real estate investor who serves on the Board of Directors of both the CATO Institute and the Club for Growth. Already in 2008, Nebraska is seeing similar involvement from another billionaire who shares the same New York zip code and the same right-wing agenda. Except - believe it or not - this guy might be even more corrupt.

Ladies and gentlemen of Nebraska, it's my distinct displeasure and dishonor introducing you to Paul Singer.

Looking at NCRI's first two monthly filings with Nebraska's Accountability & Disclosure Commission (1, 2), the group claims only one financial contribution greater than $250. That contribution came from Singer, who sent $50,000 in start-up cash straight from his Wall Street office.

This begs the question: who is Paul Singer? And, that is where the story gets very, very interesting.

If Ward Connerly and his local supporters are the company they keep, the involvement of Paul Singer should send an immediate message to the people of Nebraska that we want nothing to do with this petition effort and the dirty money that's paying for it.

Paul Singer is absolutely notorious in the investment world. He has brought shame upon the entire industry with his pioneering work as the world's first and foremost "vulture fund" capitalist. With his "vulture funds," Singer became a pioneer in the investment world much like Lee Atwater and Karl Rove established themselves as pioneers in American politics - they've stooped lower than anyone else was willing, abandoning all principles and not caring one bit whom they've hurt in the process.

Essentially, Singer has made his name and increased his fortune by buying third-world debt. He buys the debt cheap - offering guaranteed money - then assumes the role of loan shark suing these poverty-stricken countries for immediate payment. It can be a high-risk and costly game played out in courtrooms all over the world, but Singer has played it and played it well.

The true corruption of Singer's "vulture fund" scheming, though, goes much farther than that. In fact, Singer's capitalist fervor has driven him to commit literal crimes against humanity. You see, the real secret to the success of Singer's "vulture funds" is that the debt they buy shouldn't really have to be repaid. The political movement pressuring wealthier, industrial nations to forgive third world debt has often erased the final obligation, but Singer manipulates the system, forcing third world countries to pay up while reaping the benefits of loan forgiveness entirely for himself (and his investors).

Brilliant? Perhaps. Evil? If this doesn't qualify, I have a hard time seeing what would.

In the most notorious instance of Singer's "vulture fund" investing, he made almost $50 million in profit off the country of Peru on debt for which he paid less than $12 million. Right now, an off-shore arm of his company located in the Cayman Islands is attempting a similar scam on the Congo, seeking $400 million in repayment for a debt they bought for only $10 million.

I'll leave it for others to ponder the racist implications of making a fortune ripping off people in Central America and Africa, then using those proceeds to fund an effort that would erase opportunities for their American-born descendants, who often came to our country in chains.

Of course, the $50,000 Singer has so far spent in Nebraska is hardly more than a pittance for him - even if it is the only major contribution received by the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative. That $50,000 is also just the tip of the iceberg for Singer's open checkbook funding the far right-wing's political agenda across the country.

Singer has been the Republican Party's biggest financial contributor in New York City, giving $1.7 million to the party and its candidates since George W. Bush's first presidential campaign. With deep ties to Rudy Giuliani's still-born campaign for the presidency in 2008, it's reported that Singer had pledged to raise $10 - 15 million on Giuliani's behalf.

Meanwhile, Singer's dirty money has been a good fit for some very dirty politics. Not only was Singer a contributor to the Swiftboat Vet's 2004 campaign against John Kerry, he was also the secret financial backer behind an effort to change how California apportions its votes in the Electoral College.

In 2007, Singer gave $175,000 supporting a California Constitutional amendment that would have converted California from a winner-take-all state to a system like Nebraska's that is decided by each Congressional district. Thankfully, that petition effort never really got off the ground because it was rightfully seen as nothing more than a back door effort to help the Republican Party hold onto the presidency.

The failure of that petition may explain why Singer has $50,000 just sitting around to send to Nebraska. Otherwise, Singer's jumping into Nebraska politics from his New York City high-rise might have something to do with the huge windfalls he's seeing manipulating the U.S. housing market during the current mortgage foreclosure crisis. Last month's Bloomberg News contained a report that showed Singer practically salivating at the mouth at all the money to be made off the misery of American families.

Once again, a very dark force has entered Nebraska politics, corrupting and making a mockery of our petition process. This Singer is a contemptible crook who shamelessly profits off third world countries while seeking every angle to get richer on the backs of Nebraska homeowners.

We now have a very good sense of the true powers behind ending affirmative action. It's time to stand up once and for all, making clear to the Howard Rich and Paul Singers of the world that we won't sell our democracy to the highest bidder. It's time to fight back by making sure this corrupt petition effort never succeeds at making the Nebraska ballot.

Again, please spread the word by sending the link to this page to concerned people in your circle. It is important to expose this network of sleaze and demystify the radical Right