Affirmative Action Splits Parties Initiative Would End Preferences By State

A proposed initiative to curb some of Washington’s affirmative action programs has sharply divided the two major parties, with Republicans throwing their weight behind the plan and state Democrats strongly opposed.

The Republican State Committee, meeting in Vancouver over the weekend gave overwhelming endorsement to the initiative. Democrats, meeting in Tacoma, were just as vociferous in opposition, with state Chairman Paul Berendt calling the GOP vote a triumph for the far right.

Initiative 200, dubbed the Washington State Civil Rights Initiative by backers, would ban preferential treatment in public employment, college admission and contracting, based on race or gender. Co-sponsor Tim Eyman said it’s not a full rollback of affirmative action, because it does not apply to the private sector and does not affect outreach or equal opportunity campaigns.

“Outreach programs are great, but we object to going the extra step and giving preferences simply based on the person’s race or gender,” whether it’s in contracting set-asides for women and minorities or preference in college admissions, he said in an interview Monday.

Originally, the GOP state executive board had decided to stay neutral. But after campaigning by “Republicans with Zero Tolerance for Discrimination,” a group of state committee members from King, Kittitas, Clark and Chelan counties, the full committee members reversed that decision and voted to endorse.

“The Washington State Republican Party believes that all Washington citizens, without regard to race or gender, deserve to be treated equally by our government,” Dale Foreman, state GOP chairman, said in a statement released by the campaign.

Eyman called the support “a really critical piece of the puzzle. It really adds legitimacy. It adds credibility. It adds momentum.

“Let me put it this way: Without their support, we would never have made it.”

He said Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay and lesbian Republicans, the state Libertarian Party and GOP leaders in the House and Senate also have endorsed the initiative.

He said the organization is “on target” to raise the requisite 225,000 voter signatures by the end of December. That would send the measure to the Legislature for approval, or forwarding to the ballot or placement of the initiative and a legislative alternative on the ballot.

State Democrats, meanwhile, passed a resolution in opposition.

“We are flatly opposed,” state chairman Berendt said in an interview. “This is a basic tenet of fairness, that we should do everything we can to assure that people who have not had opportunity in society should have a chance.

“We just feel strongly that affirmative action has been one of the vehicles that blacks and Hispanics and others have had to get a college education or get a decent-paying job or get a shot at other opportunities.”