Civil action; Initiative to end affirmative action in Colorado fires up minority and women business groups.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: [AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AMENDMENT]

President John F. Kennedy coined the term "affirmative action" in 1961. In the time since, it has come to mean different things to different people. But nearly everyone agrees that affirmative action programs at their core promote diversity within the business community, educational institutions and government workforce.

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Not Ward Connerly.

Often described in shorthand as a millionaire executive from California, Connerly is a former University of California regent and construction industry consultant of mixed-race heritage who says he believes affirmative action doesn't fight racism or sexism but, in fact, encourages both by setting the bar lower for minorities and women.

The Sacramento-based leader of two political nonprofits, the American Civil Rights Coalition and the American Civil Rights Institute, Connerly makes no apologies for his crusade. And now he's taken his fight to Colorado.

Detractors contend Connerly is merely a pawn for the good old boys network that is the mainstream construction industry. They argue he's in the pocket of the big contractors and the extreme right-wing fringe, that all of his money comes from out of state, and--last but not least--that his petitioners illegally deceived voters to get enough petitions to get their anti-affirmative action measure, Amendment 46, on the November ballot.

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Connerly argues affirmative action should have been a temporary period of preferential treatment for African Americans, but today the world has passed the concept by.

He believes the expansion of affirmative action to permanently offer preferential treatment to women and all minorities is counterproductive to society at large.

"It has become the disease it sought to cure," he says. "At first it made sense, but now it's become its own kind of discrimination. Imagine the daughters of Barack Obama getting admission to college based on racial preferences over the daughters of a white taxi driver.

"My guiding philosophy is the government has the obligation to treat everybody equally, regardless of their skin color, their sex, their race, or their religion," Connerly says. "To do otherwise is to diminish all of us."

Amendment 46 echoes California's Proposition 209, which passed into law behind Connerly's support in 1996, and similar measures that voters have since approved in Washington state and Michigan.

At press time, the petition for Amendment 46 was in legal limbo. A challenge filed by opponents claim that there aren't enough valid signatures and that paid petitioners used deception to trick Colorado residents into signing.

The initiative has become part of a national debate, prompting a response from the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee at the request of USA Today.

"Sen. Obama believes in a country in which opportunity is available to all Americans, regardless of their race, gender or economic status," said Candice Tolliver, an Obama campaign spokeswoman, in a story published June 10. "That's why he opposes these ballot initiatives, which would roll back opportunity for millions of Americans and cripple efforts to break down historic barriers to the progress of qualified women and minorities."

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, favors strict enforcement of anti-discrimination laws over broad-based quotas.

"We must recommit ourselves to the ideal that every individual is created equal in the eyes of God and every individual must therefore be treated equally under the law," McCain said in a written response through his press office. "It also means rejecting affirmative action plans and quotas that give weight to one group of...