Think Before You Ink! Decline to Sign!
From County Legislator Scott Burnett:
In Missouri next Tuesday February 5th, 2008, it is likely that when you are voting you will be asked to sign a "pro-civil rights" petition. This petition is actually a privately funded anti-affirmative action document. If they are successful in gathering the required signatures this anti-affirmative action language will appear on the November 2008 ballot. Please let everyone know the truth about this situation.
Think Before You Ink
Get the FACTS about the Anti- Civil Rights Initiative:
* The MoCRI will ban affirmative action programs designed toeliminate discrimination against women and minorities in public contracting, employment and education.
* Eliminating affirmative action programs will lead to resegregation of higher education.
The Low-down on paid petitioners:
* Petitioners are often paid per signature and are motivated by financial gain, not civic duty.
* Supporting a constitutional amendment is a serious decision. Petitions and petitioners may be misleading, you can ask to take the petition home with you while you decide and mail it in later.
Who’s behind this petition?
* Ward Connerly, a California businessman is trying to ban affirmative action in five states during the 2008 presidential elections. He’s trying to amend Missouri’s constitution to do so.
For more information call 1-877-644-0466 or visit: wecanmo.org.
Background
Ward Connerly is a rich California businessman who is working in five states to get ballot initiatives passed that will end affirmative action.
Many community leaders think Connerly’s initiatives—carefully timed to coincide with the 2008 election—are designed to trick voters. Although deceptively called a “civil rights initiative,” Connerly’s constitutional amendment would end programs that level the playing field so that women and minorities have better access to public employment, public education, and public contracts.
His petitioners will be on the street claiming to end inequalities when their real aim is to end affirmative action and blunt gains made by workers throughout the state in education and public employment.
Why we are opposing this initiative:
It’s about protecting our elections and our constitution!
When outsiders come in and try to impose their agenda on Missourians, something is very wrong. Connerly is in Missouri trying to amend our constitution, for his own political purposes.
It’s about turning back paid political operatives!
The so-called “civil rights initiative” will have to rely upon dozens of crews of paid petitioners locally and outside of Missouri. They aggressively push to get signatures so that they can get paid more money. That’s not how Missouri voters should amend our constitution!
It’s about justice!
Affirmative action programs have lifted barriers faced by women, African Americans, Latinos and other ethnic minorities, giving them equal access to higher education, jobs and public contracts. This initiative seeks to turn back-time and give up the gains we have made for our daughters and for minority communities. Affirmative action policies are about continuing to move us towards equality.
It’s about making us stronger and more diverse!
Affirmative action policies make sure that women and racial and ethnic minorities get real opportunities make our communities and workplaces stronger and more diverse.
What you can do!
Volunteer for “decline to sign.” Join hundreds of activists in working to prevent Connerly from gathering the signatures needed to put his initiative on the 2008 ballot. Trainings are twice a week. Sign up for one today!
TO VOLUNTEER CALL 913-231-8587
posted by Dan at 2/03/2008 01:51:00 PM
22 Comments:
just curious...looking at KCMO....where woman are the majority on the Council and minorities are a majority of city employees, do women and minority owned businesses not get a fair shake when it comes to contracts? Honestly. Any examples would be great
There have been lots of problems with MWOBs here in KC. Cauthen has done a TERRIBLE job of getting money spent properly. Look at Sprint Center - google "minority" and "sprint center".
Of course, that has almost nothing to do with the statewide misleading constitutional amendment being pushed by paid signature-gatherers . . .
Cauthen has made KC's M/WBE program a quota program. It is supposed to be a goal program but it is no longer. Cauthen has made it a mandate program. Look at the copier RFP audit as one example.
Check out the history of M/WBE accomplishment in City contracts. Percentages have exceeded the overall goals for decades.
Project and procurement contracts are held hostage until contractors/vendors segment a piece of their work/service to WBEs and/or MBEs whether it makes sense or not.
What do you have against legislation that prohibits discriminating against or giving preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin?
How much handicap do you think a black man needs? A Hispanic woman? An Asian man? By handicapping them you are telling them they are not equal to you, that they are inferior, that you are better, that they can't compete with Whitey. THAT'S DISCRIMINATION!
What part of legislation that prohibits discrimination against or grants preferential treatment to an individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin?
How much handicap do you think should be given to a Black man? An Asian woman? A Hispanic homosexual? By handicapping them you tell them they are not equal, they are inferior, they cannot compete with Whitey because they are not as good as Whitey. THAT'S DISCRIMINATION!!!
Remember welfare, the voting block Democrats could count on because they were the gracious overseers? They ensured the "victims" a constant check, subsidized housing, and food stamps. A bigger check and more food stamps could be had if there were more babies born without a father in the household.
That was 20th Century slavery!! Your Affirmative Action program is slavery, too. It keeps minorities and women chained to a program for the lesser-thans.
Do you really want to keep minorities and women down just so you have a guaranteed block of voters to elect your co-conspirator candidates?
Welfare recipients amazingly survived when their checks ended, in fact the majority have thrived. And they are free! Thank God Almighty, FREE AT LAST.
Judge us for the content of our character, not the color of our skin.
Anon don't sit here and actually try to use MLK's words to argue affirmative action. That's just wrong and disgusting. You wouldn't know the first thing about civil rights or MLK so let's not act like you actually care about the lives of minorities.
Having said that, thanks to your sick comment, The content of your character has been judged and the results came back saying that you are a f·ing idiot.
Don't sign this petition!! Save Affirmative Action!!!
Don't sign the petition!!! Maintain the Democrat voting block of people not as smart as we are.
It will make you feel so good to be their benefactor. There will never be a time when they are equal to us so we must continue, for their own good, to keep them segregated in our affirmative action voting block program.
Love, superior me.
There aren't any societal benefits to being white, are there?
Dan…
Your article states;
“ban affirmative action programs designed toeliminate[sic] discrimination against women and minorities in public contracting, employment and education.”
The language Robin Carnahan attempted to put on the ballot was;
“ban affirmative action programs designed to eliminate discrimination against, and improve opportunities for, women and minorities in public contacting, employment and education."
You , and Robin Carnahan used the exact same language! (except she knows when to hit the space bar)
Judge Callahan (D) of Cole County found Carnahan’s language “troubling” and said her argument for why she used it had “no merit.” Yet you use the exact same language that Carnahan did! Your argument is deceptive, and has no merit.
In the article you wrote just after this one, you stated;
” I would be missing out on a real opportunity to confuse the issues for the "experts" on the Republican side.”
Have you no shame? Is deception the tool that you find most useful? When an “opportunity to confuse the issues” presents itself, should we count on you to be the first sophist in line?
Is that how you assist Mayor Funkhouser? Is that what Funkhouser needs? Maybe that is what has Funkhouser in so much trouble: He has, at least one volunteer advisor, that considers deception to be the way to present information.
This article is troubling, and designed to confuse the issue. I think Judge Callahan would agree.
You describe Ward Connerly as “rich”. Maybe you should also state that Connerly is an African-American businessman famous for being the force behind affirmative action bans that passed in California , Washington, and Michigan. California and Washington adopted the ban on affirmative action in the 1990’s. None of the states that have adopted the affirmative action bans have demonstrated any ill effects. –But telling that part of the story would do nothing to help you confuse the readers.
The language that Judge Callahan determined to be proper is; "Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to: Ban state and local government affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment in public contracting, employment, or education based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin unless such programs are necessary to establish or maintain eligibility for federal funding or to comply with a court order?"
Like any petition; don't sign it if you don't understand it. Don't fail to sign it just because you bought into Dan's deceptive argument. A judge, and fellow Democrat, found the argument that Dan has presented to lack merit. You should too.
Whistleblower -
I suspect you don't realize that you're lying, because you haven't read the opinion issued by Judge Callahan. There is nothing deceptive or misleading about the language you quote. Nothing at all. The petition being bankrolled by the California millionaire would, in fact,
“ban affirmative action programs designed to eliminate discrimination against, and improve opportunities for, women and minorities in public contacting, employment and education." Do you deny that it would do so? Because, if you do, you are even more mistaken than usual.
Now, Callahan did have a problem with the language Ms. Carnahan provided, but the problem was that it suggested that the petition was proposing to put other affirmative action remedies in place. It does not. The specific language that triggered Callahan's ruling was that the measure would “allow preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin to meet federal program funds eligibility standards as well as preferential treatment for bona fide qualifications based on sex.” I'm sure if you go and read up on things, you'll come back and apologize for falsely accusing me of being deceptive.
I look forward to your apology for your histrionic accusations.
Dan's right. You owe him an apology.
You should not sign any petitions whatsoever, since your reading comprehension is inadequate.
Dan...
To answer your question. Yes, if adopted, it will “ban affirmative action programs designed to eliminate discrimination against, and improve opportunities for, women and minorities in public contracting, employment and education." It offers a very simplistic view as to the purpose of the proposal.
"The proposed constitutional amendment never uses the words “affirmative action.” But it would prohibit state and local governments from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment, to people on the basis of race and sex in public employment, education and contracts. It includes a few exceptions, such as for program eligibility guidelines necessary to receive federal funding.
Although supporters of initiative petitions write the language of their own measures, the secretary of state's office writes the summaries that actually appear on the ballot. Consequently, supporters and opponents of controversial measures frequently file suit on claims that the state's summary is unfair or insufficient.
In this case, Carnahan's summary said the measure would “ban affirmative action programs designed to eliminate discrimination against, and improve opportunities for, women and minorities in public contacting, employment and education.”
Callahan upheld the general description of the measure as banning affirmative action programs. What the judge cited as troubling was a second bullet point in Carnahan's description, which said the measure also would “allow preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin to meet federal program funds eligibility standards as well as preferential treatment for bona fide qualifications based on sex.”
The judge said the language suggested the amendment would do away with one class of preferential treatment programs and then replace it with some other kind.
Callahan ordered new ballot language, which asks whether the constitution should be amended to: “Ban state and local government affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment in public contracting, employment or education based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin, unless such programs are necessary to establish or maintain eligibility for federal funding or to comply with a court order.”
Unfortunately, I'm in Jeff City tonight, so I can't get the court's decision sent to me. If I get time tomorrow, I'll go by the courthouse and get a copy. If not,
I will get it on Wednesday. Then I will update the comments with a link.
Maybe you should read the information on the American Civil Rights Institute Website.
You changed the focus to money and made it about people getting paid to go out and get signatures.
Wasn't it the democrats that just got in trouble for paying people to go out and register bogus voters? http://www.komotv.com/news/8729967.html
I guess it's ok for liberals to pay people to get voter registration, but not ok for conservatives to pay people to sell what they want.
Sorry for the verbage..it's late, and I'm on a notebook.
Distorting the issue, to make it about money, is still deception.
Closer to home:
Democrat-Linked ACORN Members Indicted for Voter Fraud in Kansas City
November 2nd, 2006
JEFFERSON CITY - The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City today handed up four indictments against workers with the Democrat Party-backed Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) for allegedly submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registration cards in a direct assault against free and fair elections in Missouri.
The Kansas City Star reports that the four face two felony counts each: of providing false information to the Kansas City Election Board, and of filing a false voter application with the board. Each carries a 5 year/$250,000 fine.
“It is very disturbing that members of this left leaning group have been indicted for engaging in serious voter fraud designed to cause chaos and controversy at the polls in order to help Democrats try to steal next week’s elections,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “This illegal assault on our election system should concern every voter in this state who deserves to know that their legitimate ballots won’t be cancelled out by fraudulent ones. It also raises serious questions about the Democrat Party and Claire McCaskill’s involvement with ACORN.”
ACORN is being investigated by the FBI in Kansas City and St. Louis for submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registrations. The group is also the focus of a Federal Elections Commission complaint filed by the Missouri Republican Party over media reports that workers were asked to illegally promote Claire McCaskill’s Senate campaign as part of its voter registration efforts.
Along with ACORN’s connection to McCaskill, campaign finance documents show that Democrat state auditor candidate Susan Montee’s husband, James Montee, in April loaned “Give Missourians A Raise” $150,000 just days after ACORN contributed $25,000 to the group. The money was supposedly being used by “Give Missourians A Raise” to gather signatures to have a minimum wage measure appear on the November ballot.
I'm curious -- do you have a problem with the 1964 Civil Rights Act and its IDENTICAL language outlawing discrimination based upon race? After all, I know that your state's Democrat party was opposed to such non-discrimination laws 40 years ago, but I'm shocked to see that you people haven't grown or evolved since then.
Whistleblower, you crack me up. Way too funny - you accuse me of deception, I prove you 100% wrong, and you refuse to apologize. Have you no shame?
Dan...
I did not apologize because you are being deceptive. You made the issue about Ward Connerly, and it's not. You made the issue abut paying people to go out and get signatures, and it's not.
The issue is about affirmative action, and how it now gives preferential treatment, rather than allowing minorities to get a chance to start from the same line.
Sophist= One skilled in elaborate and devious argumentation.
When you don't give people links to the whole story, and introduce irrelavent information, I find that to be deceptive. You didn't even give them the full ballot language.
I don't have a problem with you injecting your opinion, but telling people not to do something by distorting the issue... Well, I have a problem with.
Whistleblower will never admit he's wrong. He's a classless ass. He was wrong when he claimed "Your argument is deceptive, and has no merit" - he even put it in bold! He was arguing that Callahan had criticized the language you had quoted, but Whistleblower was exactly WRONG.
Now he wants to complain because you called a millionaire a millionaire.
He has no intellectual integrity at all. Zip. Nada.
How many times have you proven him absolutely, verifiably wrong now? Isn't it like 20 or so?
And his complaint about you not including details that he wants you to include about the California millionaire - has he ever mentioned that Lynn Ann Vogel supports the Missouri Plan?
Another anonymous jumps on the lying, politically driven, republican "voter fraud" bandwagon. God, please do some actual research before parroting repub spokespersons lying about this horrible threat to the system. You might discover that, despite allegations and indictments nationwide, against ACORN and others, despite the full might of the repub noise machine, that the bushified, Regent univ. filled DOJ have utterly failed to prove a single case. You might find that the Wisc. US Atty. was mocked from the bench for his unsupported case. You might find that mindlessly spewing right wing talking points, to try to spread the lies and fear you live in, just makes you look like a fool.
Ann, you might also look to the lie you led off with. ACORN is not a Democratic operation, it's non-partisan. It's a target of the bushites because it works in inner cities, among the people spurned by the current "I got mine, fuck you" wing that drives this administration. They fear, rightfully, that the folks being registered might not be big repub supporters; and they sure don't have campaign contributions.
"Ann"="Anon." Preview is my friend, if I remembered.
Rhymes with Right said " but I'm shocked to see that you people haven't grown or evolved since then."
Have you told your party that you believe in evolution? Be careful they are likely to revoke your Friends of Fred Phelps and Phil Kline Membership.
We are not all created equal. People of color and women haven't "evolved" into the intelligent beings that we self-made white men are. Man, am I glad I was born a white man; that I'm above the IQ-challenged lesser-thans. They must be give special "civil rights". We superior white men must give them a hand out, ever now and then. After all, we do count on them as a block of voters that get our Democrat candidates elected. Besides, it gives me such peace of mind. Care for a cigar?
I'm no friend of Fred Phelps (or his inbred klan) -- a man who was, last time I checked, a registered Democrat and at least historically a strong supporter of Al Gore.
As for Kline, I'm really not familiar enough with him to even have an opinion.
But it might surprise you to discover that most Republicans believe in evolution -- though many, like me, see it as teh mechanism though which God worked his miraculous act of creation.
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