Affirmative Action Advocates Caught In Dilemma

Originally Appeared In The Marietta Daily Journal~ By State Rep. Earl Ehrhart

The opponents of my bill to ban race- and gender-based preferences in Cobb County government have an interesting dilemma. To argue that the bill is symbolic, they must state Cobb has no preference programs, and therefore the legislation has no meaning. However, as the bill comes closer to becoming law, they state that the bill becomes substantive, and will cost the county $25 million in lost federal funding. Clearly, they can not have it both ways.

The fact is that of the almost $1 billion in highway construction funds that Cobb will spend over the next several years, the federal government provides a very small portion. The federal agencies responsible for the disbursement of these funds, the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) and the Federal Transportation Authority (FTA) are headed by Clinton appointees who feel the Constitution and Supreme Court of the nation do not apply to them.

Let's look at the facts on preferences. In Adarand v. Pena, the U.S. Supreme Court, the ultimate arbiter of law in this country, held that all such preference programs are unconstitutional. Period. Case closed. Adarand could not have been more on point. it even dealt with highway contracting in the state of Colorado. Federal transportation bureaucrats are out of their collective minds if they think that their rules and regulations supercede the Supreme Court.

If the Adarand decision is not enough proof, recent experience also backs up the contention that no funds will be forfeited. California did away with preference programs with Proposition 209, passed by the people of that state in 1996. California has not lost one dime of federal funding. Colorado, Virginia, and the city of Houston all have had preference programs struck down without the loss of federal funding.

Congressman Bob Barr, R-Smyrna, has written to Transportation Secretary Slater asking him to clarify that a local government's decision to ban discriminatory set-asides will in no way interfere with federal funds. Congressman Barr states, "Such a conclusion is amply supported by Adarand."

What a tragedy that we have come to the point in this country where we as citizens must sue our own government to have it abide by the U.S. Constitution. Any suggestion that Cobb County will lose money if we ban preference is a desperate, last-ditch effort of those who have lost the legal and moral argument to scare elected officials away from doing what is right. It is a calculated effort to intimidate, and it will not work.

Thankfully, Cobb County is blessed with elected officials like County Commission Chairman Bill Byrne, who will place principles over politics. The moral high ground belongs to those who would ban discrimination based on race and gender. Cobb County stands poised on the brink of becoming only the second major population center to dismantle preferences by legislation. A nationwide benchmark can be set if Cobb is willing to place principle over politics and insist on the law being enforced. The matter before us is substantive, and simple: Cobb can lead the way and do what is right, or it can sit back and wait for the paralyzed federal or state government to act.

Cobb has always been a leader on issues of freedom, and I trust it will be again.

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