State Official Says He’ll Keep Hiring Goals

The state’s top employment officer has crossed swords with Gov. Pete Wilson by saying that he will continue to use hiring goals for women and minorities despite recent voter approval of Proposition 209.

C. Lance Barnett, the executive director of the State Personnel Board, said in a published report that he believes the goals do not violate Proposition 209’s plan to end preferences in government hiring and contracting for women and minorities.

But Wilson administration officials quickly disagreed, and they promised to correct any misinterpretation by Barnett, who works for a governor-appointed board.

“It appears on its face that what he is saying is inconsistent with what we are doing,” said Lisa Kalustian, a spokeswoman for the governor.

A receptionist at the State Personnel Board said Wednesday that Barnett had left for the holiday weekend and could not be reached for comment.

Telephone calls to the board’s media spokesman and all five board members--including three Wilson appointees--also were not returned Wednesday.

In comments published Wednesday in the Sacramento Bee, Barnett said he believes that the preferences outlawed by Proposition 209 are similar to quotas, which are not practiced by the state. He said the hiring goals he plans to continue are consistent with the initiative’s intent to end discrimination.

“We would define preferential treatment as someplace where, based on a demographic tag, you’re hired or promoted based on race or gender,” Barnett said. “We would equate that with a quota, and since we do not have any quota systems anywhere, we do not see 209 affecting us.”

Barnett, a former economist with the state Commerce Department and the Rand Corp., said the goals are necessary to determine whether the state’s outreach efforts are performing effectively.

Falling short of a hiring goal “leads you to tailor your outreach efforts to make sure you are getting appropriate representation in your candidate pool,” he said.

Proposition 209 advocates such as Wilson said during the fall campaign, however, that state policy should be blind to race or gender. Wilson said hiring and contracting decisions should be based on merit.

Lisa Kalustian, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the Personnel Board policy will be reviewed as part of an ongoing statewide effort to identify government programs that include race or gender preferences.

Wilson ordered the review in an executive order he signed shortly after voters passed Proposition 209 by 54% to 46% earlier this month.

“There is going to be no renegade agency that is going to be permitted to defy what is the law of the state and what the governor has directed his boards and agencies to do,” Kalustian said.

State officials said a federal judge’s order Wednesday temporarily barring Wilson from enforcing Proposition 209 will not affect the review of state agencies because, for the time being, it is limited to identification of potentially affected programs.

The controversy at the State Personnel Board is the latest of several recent incidents in which government officials at various levels have angered Proposition 209 advocates by maintaining affirmative action programs.

Last week, the San Jose City Council--acting on its legal counsel’s opinion--voted 9 to 2 for a contracting plan that establishes minimum percentages for participation by minority and female-owned subcontractors in city construction contracts.

Proponents of the ballot measure objected to the San Jose action and vowed to mount an effort to crack down on those they consider to be Proposition 209 scofflaws.

“We are not going to sit by and watch people not comply with Proposition 209,” said Jennifer Nelson, a spokeswoman for the initiative campaign.