THE '99 SESSION
Ronan Republican again files bills seeking to prevent affirmative action
By ERIN P. BILLINGS
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA - A Ronan lawmaker, saying government should be color-blind, has resurrected a pair of bills that failed two years ago to outlaw affirmative action programs in Montana.

Rep. Rick Jore, a Republican, wants the 1999 Legislature to consider two bills to ban programs that grant preferential treatment to an individual or group on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, national origin or sex in public employment, public education or public contracting. The two pieces of legislation, still in draft form, are essentially the same, but one seeks to change state law and the other seeks to ask voters to amend the Montana Constitution.

Two virtually identical measures were proposed in the 1997 Legislature, by Rep. Bill Boharski, R-Kalispell, but were unsuccessful.

Jore said Thursday he's proposing the bills because he believes programs that give advantages to one group or individual lead to racial divisions. He said government should be "color-blind and gender-blind."

"The idea of preferential policies to compensate for past discrimination is the seed for animosity," said Jore. "Two wrongs don't make a right."

The proposals likely will breed much controversy as they did two years ago. Already two groups are opposing the measures - the Montana Women's Lobby and the Montana Human Rights Network. Those organizations say the bills seek to heighten discrimination by eliminating programs that help give minorities a chance at equality.

Christine Kaufmann, a lobbyist for the Human Rights Network, called the bills both a shame and a sham. She said the bills do nothing to level what she deems a bumpy playing field where white males still have privilege in society.

"The purpose of these bills is to make a political point that whining conservative males are in trouble," she said.

Kate Cholewa of the Women's Lobby said the bills are appalling and perpetuate the myth that affirmative action programs create quotas.

"These are saying discrimination is OK," she said. "They're saying we don't have to remedy it, we don't have to fix it."

In 1997, both anti-preferential treatment measures were supported by conservative lobbying organizations including the Montana Christian Coalition and Eagle Forum. Representatives from both groups said Thursday they haven't yet reviewed the 1999 legislation.

Jore acknowledges the bills will be contentious, but believes that if people are treated equally under they law then they will get along. He also recognized that there are few programs in Montana that encourage preferential practices, but just the same, believes it should be clarified through law.

He said the country's founders intended for citizens to be treated differently.

"These would reaffirm the role of government to protect life, liberty and property and secure those rights, regardless of any of these factors," he said.

The statutory change seeks to prohibit preferential treatment in several areas including personnel administration, employment and in the area of university system tuition waivers for Indians. That particular provision, included in the 1997 proposal, brought some of the most fierce opposition from Native Americans, who called the legislation "anti-Indian."

The constitutional measure would simply ask the public in November of 2000 whether they are for or against prohibiting state and local governments from giving preferential treatment in employment, education and contracting based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin or sex.

In recent years, California and Washington voters have adopted constitutional amendments banning affirmative action programs in certain areas.