Racial report critical of bill vetoes

Sacramento Bee ^ | 11/15/6 | Judy Lin

[SmithL]

Advocacy group gives governor a D and lawmakers a C- for latest legislation.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets a D and the state Legislature a C-minus when it comes to supporting bills that bridge California's racial divide, according to a report card put out by an advocacy group Tuesday.

Despite the governor's pledge to represent all Californians, authors of the 2006 racial equity report card gave him poor marks for vetoing bills to provide universal health insurance and allow separate textbooks for English learners. The Governor's Office called the report flawed.

The report card called "Facing Race" was compiled by the Applied Research Center, a privately funded public policy institute headquartered in Oakland. The governor and the Legislature were graded on 20 bills addressing racial inequities in education, economic justice, health and civil rights.

While the governor and the Legislature struck a bipartisan deal last summer to raise the state's minimum wage to $8 per hour in 2008, the report criticized the legislation for failing to include automatic cost-of-living increases viewed by some as a necessary tool for working families to keep up with inflation.

"This serves as a good wake-up call, a good indicator of where we are in California," said Grantland Johnson of the Sacramento Labor Council. "I don't think we fully appreciate that race really matters in California."

Johnson and other advocates say politicians are making decisions based on the electorate -- which tends to be white, more affluent and better educated -- at the expense of all Californians, 56 percent of whom are minorities. The disparity has created "two parallel societies" such that neither the Legislature nor the governor take the initiative to protect against discrimination, he said.

[SmithL]

"This serves as a good wake-up call, a good indicator of where we are in California," said Grantland Johnson of the Sacramento Labor Council. "I don't think we fully appreciate that race really matters in California."

No agenda here, huh?

[pacpam]

Substitute socialism for representative democracy and he'll be happy.

[Clock King]

Black and Brown people need to get off their butts and make themselves viable. Quit waiting for the white man to save us.

[2harddrive]

Affirmative Action: American APARTHEID!

[bordergal]

Oh for crying out loud.
It's not rocket science. Get a good education, work hard, live within your means, get married and stay married. You'll be successful. Funny how it works every time it is tried.

My oldest daughter's best friend is hispanic.
She works hard, got a 4.++++ average in college, and has been accepted to Vet School.

The only thing anyone ever had to do for Elaine was get out of her way!!!