Activists Blast Wilson Over Rights Bill Veto

Local black and Latino activists and leaders of women’s groups on Thursday directed their wrath over the death of a major civil rights bill toward Sen. Pete Wilson, whose vote to uphold a presidential veto of the bill proves, they contended, that he is not fit to be governor of a multicultural California.

Joseph Duff, president of the Los Angeles branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said his organization is gearing up to ensure that Republican candidate Wilson is “held accountable” in the upcoming gubernatorial election for his role in sustaining the veto, which was upheld by one vote on Wednesday.

“The NAACP does not endorse candidates and we are not partisan” said Duff. “But we will make it clear to voters that he is against civil rights.”

Duff said details of the strategy will be formulated this weekend in Riverside at a previously planned meeting of California NAACP officials.

James Lee, a Los Angeles-based spokesman for Wilson’s campaign, said Wilson “did not vote to uphold the veto of a civil rights bill. He voted to uphold the veto of a quotas bill.”

Supporters of the bill, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dianne Feinstein, are criticizing Wilson for upholding the veto, with Feinstein charging that he cast “the deciding vote against this historic measure.”

Tammy Bruce, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women, said she is urging NOW supporters to deluge the President and Congress with letters, telegrams and phone calls protesting the actions of the president and the U.S. Senate, which failed to override Bush’s veto of the Civil Rights Bill of 1990.

Bush said he vetoed the measure, which would have reversed or altered six recent Supreme Court decisions, because he believed it would have led to hiring quotas for women, African Americans and ethnic groups that traditionally have been the victims of employment discrimination. Supporters of the bill have said that assessment is inaccurate.

Latino activists said they are planning a series of meetings on how to deal with elected officials when a revived version of the measure is introduced in Congress, some hope as early as next year. A day before the Senate override vote, a coalition of Latinos held a news conference in Los Angeles and denounced Wilson for not supporting the bill.

Alicia Maldonado of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) said Wilson “could have been the key vote” in overriding the presidential veto.

Mark Ridley-Thomas, director of the local branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said Wilson has sent “a very clear message” to women and members of ethnic groups. “We ought to respond to it accordingly and cause him to live with the consequences in ways that he will never forget.”

Lee, asserting that Wilson’s record on civil rights is unassailable, said the wrath now directed against him in the governor’s race is no more than partisan politics.