Anti-affirmative action advocate Ward Connerly and a Sacramento-based legal group on Thursday blasted President Barack Obama's administration and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a recently enacted policy that awards some state construction contracts based on race and gender.
The Pacific Legal Foundation, a limited-government watchdog group, filed a lawsuit Thursday against the California Department of Transportation on behalf of Associated General Contractors of America. It wants to reverse a Caltrans mandate that 6.75 percent of federally funded contracts go to women, African Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans and American Indians.
The policy has a direct impact on about $2.75 billion in state projects, the foundation said.
"This should be a no-brainer, folks," Connerly said Thursday at a news conference to announce the lawsuit. "Plain and simple, Caltrans is caving in to minority politics."
Caltrans spokesman Mark DeSio said the department hadn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment on it.
But the new policy aims to boost the percentage of "disadvantaged business enterprises," or DBE, that receive Caltrans' contracts, DeSio said.
Caltrans' DBE contracts excluding race or gender considerations had amounted to "between 3 and 4.6 percent for quite some time," DeSio said in an e-mail to The Bee, "far short of the (federal) goal of 13.5 percent."
On March 30, Caltrans began including race and gender as a factor in advertised contracts for all federally funded projects. The Federal Highway Administration supported the new quota policy, which applies to all awards after June 2 that involve federal money.
The lawsuit contends that a Caltrans study behind the awards numbers is flawed and that the department has ways to raise the percentage of small-business contracts without considering race or gender.
Connerly and legal foundation spokeswoman Sharon Browne said that the quotas violate federal and state law, including California's Proposition 209. Connerly championed and voters approved the 1996 measure to bar race or gender preferences in public employment, education and contracting.
Proposition 209 gives the state wiggle room to consider race and gender as contracting factors if federal money is at stake and it's clear that some sort of discrimination is occurring. Caltrans hasn't proved that, Browne said, and even if it did, case law requires that the remedy be more narrow than the new quota program.
"We believe there is no evidence that Caltrans will lose federal dollars if they treat all contractors equally," Browne said.
Connerly, a former University of California regent, is lending his support, although he is not a party in the case. He said that the governor should have struck down the plan.
"Caltrans doesn't stand alone. Why isn't the governor intervening?" Connerly asked. "Why is he putting people at risk with an (unnecessary) lawsuit?"
And the president should also act, he said.
"Why is the Obama administration countenancing this policy?" Connerly said. "This could all be solved with the stroke of a pen."
Call The Bee's Jon Ortiz, (916) 321-1043.
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