2A
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Thursday, August 10, 2006
Critics attack legislation
Continued from page 1A
any aspirational goals in
spite of existing and docu
mented under utilization of
Minority and Women
Business Enterprises.
Additionally, a review of DOT
Disparity Studies (over a 20-
year period) indicates that
DOT continues to exclude
minority contractors not
withstanding the fact that
their own disparity studies
document a trend of under
utilization,” Robinson wrote.
“We trust you will utilize
the power of the veto to indi
cate your support for
MinorityAVomen Business
Enterprises,” Robinson added
before concluding, “Please
consider making minority
economic development a pri
ority and part of your legacy
as Governor of the great state
of North Carolina.”
NCBLC isn’t the only group
leveraging pressure on the
governor not to sign the mea
sure. NC NAACP President
Rev. William Barber said that
he has called Gov. Easle3fs
office to make the civil rights
organization’s opposition to
the bill clear.
Many of those who would
be directly affected by the
lack aspirational goals for
minority businesses to con
tract with the state, also
want the governor to know
how they feel, while at the
same time blasting the NC
Legislative Black Caucus for
voting against their interests.
“The TOTAL Black Caucus
of North Carolina except
[Rep.] Earlene [Parmon of
Forsyth] has sold us/Black
contractora'the black commu
nity down the creek,” wrote
Sylvia L Grier of B.l.R.S. Co.
International, of Charlotte in
an e-mail, the day a majority
of the Black Caucus voted for
HB 1827.
‘This bill is written with the
wrong language,” Grier
wrote. Our advocate tried to
talk to, work with and
explain the wrong/unaccept-
able language. I called
Grier
[House Speaker] Jim Black’s
office and they told me he
was ready not to sign off of
the bill and/or remove/delete
it.”
“They waited on our Black
Caucus, They voted against
us,” Grier charged. “Please,
please, please call Governor
Mike Easley at
1.800.662.7952, as soon as
possible, and request that he
NOT sign HB1827.”
‘This bin is a start to the
elimination of aU statewide
MWBE/SBE/DBE pro
grams,” Grier said.
While most of
the N.C.
Legislative
Black Caucus,
on the advice of
Senate
President Pro
Tern Marc
Basnight,
Senate bill
sponsor Sen. Clark Jenkins,
and the state attorney gener
al’s office, voted to pass the
controversial measure, some
lawmakers who believed the
General Assembly could have
ratified a bOl that could pass
legal scrutiny, and stiU pro
tect the state’s minority and
women-owned business com-
mtmity, voted against it.
“I voted against the bill,
because I believe it important
to fight until the end for what
is right, just and fair,” Wake
County Rep. Deborah Ross, a
White Democrat whose dis
trict takes in part- of predomi
nately black Southeast
Raleigh, said in a statement.
But her southeast Raleigh
House colleague. Rep.
Bernard Allen, a black
Democrat, who voted for HB
1827, saw it differently.
“Had we not passed the biU,
there would have been no
kinds of guarantees in the
biU; plus the fact that this
would have given those folks
that are fighting this issue,
an opportunity, an out if you
will,” Rep. Allen tried to make
a reporter understand.
At press time, Easley’s
office said he hadn’t signed
the measure yet, but one of
his aides indicated that the
governor was leaning toward
putting his signature on it.
Part of the problem is the
pending decision by US
District Court Judge
'Ibrrence Boyle in a lawsuit
challenging the constitution
ality of North Carolina’s
Minority and Women-Owned
Business Enterprise program
in state highway construction
contracts.
Filed in 2003 by the conser
vative Southeastern Legal
Foundation on behalf of
plaintiff H.B. Rowe Co., Inc, a
construction company,
against DOT, the suit, accord
ing to the foimdation’s Web
site, alleged that Rowe “was
denied a contract for a road
project, despite the fact that
it was the low bidder. Instead,
die State awarded the con
tract to a higher bidder
because that bidder was able
to demonstrate it gave a high
er percentage of the contract
to minority subcontractors —
despite the fact that neither
bidder was able to meet the
State’s unconstitutional
quota of 10 percent minority
participation and 5 percent
female participation.
“The contract cost state tax
payers an additional $4,000.”
The site continued, “North
Carolina’s Preference pro
gram for public roads is pre
sumptively unconstitutional
because it uses race- and gen
der-quotas to determine the
awarding of public contracts,”
said Phil Kent, SLF
President.”
SLF attorneys, who suc
cessfully scared the city of
Charlotte into diomping its
minority and women-owned
business program by threat
ening a similar lawsuit in
2002, challenged state offi
cials to rescind “race-based
state law provisions and reg
ulations governing the award
of road construction con
tracts” if it wanted to “avoid
litigation.”
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The answer was “no,” and
before long, all parties were
in federal court before Judge
Boyle.
Tfestimony in the case has
concluded and Boyle is
expected to render a decision
by this fall. State lawmakers,
in an effort to protect DCXT,
decided to sponsor HB 1827
to preempt Judge Boyle pos
sibly ruling the state’s minor
ity-business outreach effort
as imconstitutional.
“The (Legislative) Black
Caucus met on this issue,”
Rep. Bernard Allen said. ‘We
discussed it and came out
with a consensus that it was
best to pass the legislation,
come back later on, because
there were some legal chal
lenges in there ...we were
advised (by the state attorney
general’s office) to vote for it,
and that’s why I did.”
“I think we did what was in
the best interest of the
African-American contrac
tors, based on the knowledge
that I was given,” Allen said.
“We’ve got to wait until
there’s some legal disposition,
then we can take a look at it.
Certainly I’m not going to do
any harm to African-
Americans.”
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