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The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) appointed state Rep. Leon Drolet, a Republican who led Ward Connerly's campaign to end affirmative action in
How can this be? The Michigan Department of Civil Rights, which is a state agency and has no connection to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, vehemently disapproves. In a scathing denouncement of Drolet's nomination, they wrote the following:
"In a state with such a rich history of civil rights and union activism, it is most disappointing that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights chose a representative with such a shallow civil rights resume. By selecting a candidate with a one-issue civil rights platform at odds with every established civil rights organization, the U.S. Commission has all but erased its credibility as a proponent for civil rights." Read the statement.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' job is to investigate complaints of voter disenfranchisement, to study and collect information on equal-protection denial on the basis of race/ethnicity, gender and other protected classes, and to provide reports to the president and Congress and serve as a national clearinghouse for information on discrimination and equal protection.
Apparently, its policy is to allow only majority-approved reports to appear on the web site, however, and a draft report criticizing the Bush administration's civil-rights record had to be removed, according to the Communication Workers of America. Read more.
In April, one of the commissioners--Vice Chair Abigail Thernstrom--participated in DiversityInc's provocative13-member affirmative-action roundtable where she, Connerly and others faced off with affirmative-action proponents in higher education, business and the law. Read the story from the magazine.
President Bush has stacked the USCCR with cronies of longtime affirmative-action foe Connerly, several of whom remain actively involved in his efforts to end affirmative action. Now they've managed to appoint Drolet, the chairman of the so-called "Michigan Civil Rights Initiative" that successfully banned affirmative action in state public education, contracting and employment when a majority of
"I am most proud to serve as statewide Chair of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative ...As Chair, I led the citizen effort to collect over 500,000 signatures so the issue could be placed on the ballot as Proposal 2. Affirmative-action programs that discriminate by granting race and gender preferences denigrate individuals by classifying them into racial groups instead of treating everyone as equal under the law.
Let's not forget that the board of canvassers refused to certify the ballot measure because of allegations that the petition drive involved racially targeted voter fraud and misrepresentation by telling black voters the proposal wouldn't end affirmative action.
At the time, Drolet, Connerly and company marched to the appeals court wearing white T-shirts that read "End Race Preferences" (gender-based affirmative action was outlawed as well) to protest the decision, which later was overturned by the state attorney general. A GOP board member who had abstained from the vote told Drolet that she found his shirt offensive, to which he replied, "I'm sorry if my commitment to equal treatment for all offends you." Read more.
What Will Happen Next?
Drolet will advise the commission on issues about housing discrimination and religious discrimination in the state's prison facilities, but he told the Detroit Free Press, "I'm also reasonably certain that we'll look at whether state and local government is in compliance with Proposal 2." In other words, he's a police officer, not a proponent of civil rights.
Who Are The Others?
President Bush is on a roll when it comes to nominating people with controversial civil-rights records to important positions, most recently with James Holsinger's nomination for surgeon general. See also: Is Bush Surgeon-General Nominee a Homophobe?)
He's nominated similarly controversial figures to the USCCR. Here's how the process works: Eight commissioners sit for six-year terms--four appointed by Bush, four appointed by Congress. The president appoints the chair and vice chair out of the eight commissioners with the approval of a majority of its members. No Senate confirmation is required. USCCR has 51 state advisory committees--one for each state and the
Take a look at the backgrounds of four of the commissioners and their affiliations.
(See also: Who Is Paying to End Affirmative Action--And Who Gets the Money?)
Thernstrom is a member of the board of Linda Chavez's anti-affirmative-action Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO), of which Roger Clegg is president and general counsel. She also sits on the board of the Institute for Justice, which is run by Clint Bolick--a vociferous affirmative-action foe.
(See also: EEOC Takes on 21st Century Racism: Who Invited Roger Clegg?)
Chairman Gerald Reynolds is assistant general counsel at the Kansas City Power & Light Company and previously has worked as a legal analyst for Chavez's CEO and as president of the right-wing Center for New Black Leadership. In 2002, Bush named him assistant secretary of education for the Office of Civil Rights, where he managed one of the federal government's largest civil-rights law-enforcement agencies. He's also been deputy associate attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department.
Peter Kirsanow was appointed by Bush to the commission in 2001 and the seated commissioners at that time fought his nomination all the way to the Supreme Court. The Justice Department won a lawsuit to have him seated in 2002. Kirsanow chairs the board of the Center for New Black Leadership. He contributes regularly to the National Review Online. Read one of his recent columns here. In a 2002 speech on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, he said that affirmative action had "metastasized into a racial spoils system consisting of preferences, quotas and set-asides," reports the Communication Workers of America.
Jennifer Braceras is a lawyer, freelance writer and former senior fellow for legal policy with the Independent Women's Forum, of which Chavez, who was USCCR staff director during the Reagan administration, is a member. Braceras also is a member of the Civil Rights Practice Group of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies, which Clegg previously chaired.
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