Opposition Mounting to Civil Rights Choice : Lucas’ Selection by Thornburgh as Chief Enforcer Is Voted Down by Hometown Chapter of NAACP

William Lucas, Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh’s choice to be the nation’s top civil rights enforcer, is being opposed by his hometown chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People--signaling possible trouble for his controversial nomination.

Tyrone Tillery, executive secretary of the Detroit chapter, said Tuesday that its board voted, 68 to 2, Monday night to oppose Lucas, a black, citing concern over his “competence” and sensitivity to civil rights. Tillery said that the appointment of Lucas as assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division represents too great “a risk” after eight years of Ronald Reagan Administration cutbacks on civil rights.

A history professor at Wayne State University, Tillery said that the Detroit board expressed its view in response to a request from the NAACP’s national office in Baltimore.

Benjamin L. Hooks, NAACP executive director, said that he was “not in a position” to say whether the national organization would follow suit, but that a decision could come today.

Althea T. L. Simmons, chief Washington lobbyist for the civil rights organization, said that Lucas’ “background does not fit the job. It fits law enforcement, and that’s a different kettle of fish.”

Thornburgh was speaking in Pittsburgh Tuesday and could not be reached for comment but he has not wavered in his support for Lucas, contending that the opposition is largely “partisan.”

Gubernatorial Candidate

Lucas, 61, is a former sheriff and county executive of Wayne County, Mich. He ran unsuccessfully in 1986 as the Republican candidate for governor of Michigan. He switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party in 1985.

Deborah Burstion-Wade, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said that the Detroit chapter’s action was “a disappointment, but it doesn’t change anything.” She said that Lucas’ nomination is expected to be made formally by President Bush “in a week or so.”

A senior White House official said that the NAACP opposition did not come as a surprise because of what he said was the organization’s liberal Democratic leanings.

Lucas has come under fire for inflated job descriptions that have appeared on some of his resumes. He also has been criticized in a jail overcrowding case and for his acceptance, while sheriff, of free air transportation and a Las Vegas hotel room in the mid-1970s from a Detroit man indicted but not convicted on federal gambling conspiracy charges.

An aide to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will review the nomination, said that the opposition by the Detroit NAACP chapter “to the extent that it represents broad opposition in the black community in Detroit would be troubling.” A similar move by the national office “would have a strong adverse effect,” the aide said.

Another committee staff source said that the panel “will begin its investigation when it gets the nomination,” indicating that members have not yet focused on Lucas’ selection, beyond reading press accounts.

Lucas, who would not talk to a reporter directly, said through Burstion-Wade that he had not been invited to the Detroit chapter’s board meeting but that he would have appeared if asked. He is a longtime NAACP member.

“We’ve had discussions with Mr. Lucas,” Tillery said. “He has a lot of friends in the NAACP but there was not sentiment (expressed at the meeting) in favor of him.”

Tillery said that there was the feeling at the meeting that Lucas would not have been opposed for other Administration jobs.