Clinton to Back Preferences for Race, Gender

President Clinton delivers his long-awaited judgment on affirmative action today in a solemn address that will offer a “full-throated” endorsement of preference programs for minorities and women, while calling for modest reform in their details, White House aides said Tuesday.

Amid the historic surroundings of the National Archives in Washington, the President will propose new steps to eliminate fraud in federal set-aside programs and to open added opportunities for white males--as well as minorities and women--in contracting programs aimed at poor communities, the aides said.

As he sums up the results of a half-year Administration study of the programs, Clinton will call, too, for a revision of federal affirmative action programs to bring them in line with last month’s Supreme Court decision.

Yet Clinton’s principal purpose, his aides emphasized, will be to reaffirm support for a concept that has been an article of faith for Democratic leaders for 30 years. While he is expected to acknowledge that there is a basis for complaints about some programs, Clinton will argue that special efforts on behalf of women and minorities are just and will benefit all Americans, the White House officials said.

Christopher Edley Jr., the presidential assistant who directed the affirmative action study, said in an interview that Clinton’s defense of the effort will be “full-throated.”

“He will be clear that there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it,” Edley said. And he will argue that “when it’s done the wrong way, it’s not affirmative action; it’s illegal and it’s not right,” he said.

In conjunction with the speech, Clinton will issue a presidential memorandum directing federal agencies to continue affirmative action efforts, while increasing attempts to eliminate the programs’ flaws, aides said.

“That means no quotas, no preferences for unqualified people, no reverse discrimination,” said Edley. “And when the [discrimination] problem is solved, the program must end.”

Edley said that Administration officials acknowledge that substantial changes will follow from the Supreme Court’s recent decision, which calls for the application of strict standards to judge race-conscious government programs.

“The court has raised the hurdle--a lot will happen,” Edley said. But he insisted that many programs will survive with only a “modest redesign.”

He said that this is clear from the experience of local and state governments, which have already tailored their programs according to the Supreme Court’s strict standards.

The issue of affirmative action has carried tremendous political risks for Clinton from the beginning, because with an election in 1996 he needs to strengthen ties to traditional Democrats while reaching out to the moderate voters who are more likely to consider affirmative action unfair. But after lengthy internal debate and study, Clinton seemed to conclude that affirmative action is a fundamental principle for any Democratic leader.

“The Administration, through the President’s speech, is making clear that we favor affirmative action without hype, without fear and without apology,” Deval Patrick, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said during a minority business summit on Capitol Hill.

Clinton has met with a series of political leaders, civil rights activists and business executives in recent days to talk about affirmative action, the affirmative action study and the speech. Most civil rights advocates and Democrats have come away reassured that their initial fears of backpedaling were ungrounded.

On Tuesday, as he worked on final drafts of the speech, he called the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has criticized the review, to offer him an advance briefing on the address.

Most effort in the Administration’s review focused on affirmative action in federal contracting and procurement, an area that has engendered more controversy than efforts in education and employment.

In a 90-page report, the Administration will propose steps to eliminate several kinds of abuses in contracting and procurement, including:

* Use of front owners by non-minority business interests to capture special contracting benefits.

* The use of “pass-throughs,” by which women or minorities receive special contracts, then pass them through to businesses owned by white males.

* Concealment of assets, to circumvent rules that disqualify wealthier minority- or women-owned firms.

* Evasion of “graduation requirements,” which are designed to push minority- and women-owned firms out of federal programs once they are prosperous.

Administration officials have also been working on a new program that will designate “empowerment communities,” where businesses owned by white males, as well as women and minorities, get special breaks in government contracting.

While the program is likely to be small in its economic impact, it may help broaden support among whites for affirmative action.

Edley said that affirmative action is particularly important in a state such as California, which needs to integrate a huge and growing minority population into its economy.

* WILSON STEPS UP ATTACK: He vows to push UC regents to end affirmative action. A3