Two Michigan Officials Face Contempt Charges

Two members of a state elections panel face contempt of court charges after refusing last week to ratify a ballot measure that seeks to disallow the collection of racial data by public agencies.

The measure was placed on the ballot Tuesday by the Michigan secretary of state and voters will decide in November 2006. It mirrors a proposal that California voters approved in 1996.

The Michigan measure says the state and schools "shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting."

The two officials, Doyle O'Connor and Paul Mitchell, are part of Michigan's four-member Board of Canvassers, a ratifying panel that was ordered by the state Court of Appeals earlier this month to approve the initiative.

But during a fractious board meeting last week, the two refused to approve the measure after being taunted by a group of unruly protesters -- mostly high school students bused in from the Detroit area -- who disrupted the meeting. The other two board members fulfilled their legal obligation and voted in favor of the move.

News reports said that the students overturned a table, made obscene gestures, and told a black board member to "be a black man." One protester was arrested for disorderly conduct.

In a memo this week to the state Attorney General's Office, Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Mitchell said the meeting was improperly adjourned and ended in confusion.

There was no confusion other that how the Democrats on the board were going to satisfy the mob and comply with the law. Their job was to certify a ballot initiative. There were unsubstacchiated acusations of fraud that the Democrats on the board still held to as an excuse to not allow the initiative on the ballot. Support for racial set asides has become for the left a limius test for designation as a minority. The crowd taunted one member by saying he should act black. Ballot iniciatives such as this are a cover for legislatures who have'nt the backbone to stand up to this kind of harassment.

There are plenty of voices that are speaking against such preferance laws for good reason. The laws in question taint real accomplishment and delay the move toward a colorblind society.

See La Shawn Barber for a clear voice on such maters

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