No Hiring Impact Seen From Ruling

A federal appeals court decision Tuesday reviving a statewide ban on affirmative action should have no practical effect on government hiring in Ventura County, but could change the perceptions of those applying for jobs, local officials said.

Opponents of Proposition 209, which bans preferential treatment for women or minorities, called the decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals a “huge step backward for California.”

“It’s going to have a denigrating effect on people not only in terms of getting jobs but in morale,” said Ventura County Supervisor John Flynn, who publicly opposed Proposition 209 in last fall’s election. “Affirmative action is not perfect but it is a step in the right direction. We’ve made some progress but we haven’t reached a point yet in our society where affirmative action should be given up.”

But supporters of the measure applauded the court’s ruling. “This is a great day for America. Discrimination has been outlawed,” said Steve Frank, who coordinated the Proposition 209 campaign in Ventura County. “We shouldn’t be thinking color, we should be thinking competence.”

Proposition 209, approved by 54% of California voters in November, amends the state Constitution to forbid racial and gender preferences in state and local government employment, contracting and education.

In the 3-0 decision, the appeals panel overruled a lower court’s decision and declared that Proposition 209 can be enforced. Both sides expect the matter to go before the full 11-member appeals court and then to the U.S. Supreme Court before it is resolved.

Regardless of the outcome, county Personnel Director Ron Komers said the ban on affirmative action would not make a difference in the county’s hiring policies or practices.

“As I’ve stated in the past, Prop. 209 is not going to have any impact on us,” Komers said. “We don’t give preferences to anyone in hiring.”

The county does set goals and timetables for hiring women and minority job candidates, but uses no quotas or mandates for meeting specific numbers, he said.

Minority county workers continue to be underrepresented at the management level, and in certain areas, such as the Fire Department, Komers said.

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The 357-member Fire Department includes 66 minority and 14 female employees. To address that imbalance, Fire Chief James Sewell canceled a Firefighters Academy class last year because women and minorities were underrepresented in the group.

Although race and gender are considerations in hiring, Sewell said his department never used quotas or offered any one person or group preferential treatment.

“The policy of the Board of Supervisors has always been in the past that the work force reflect the makeup of the community,” said Sewell, who was criticized for canceling the training class.

But Sewell added that the appeals court decision would probably not affect the county.

“Until the policy is changed, I don’t know if anything would be different. Our affirmative action plan set dates in the future by which we’d like to see the work force have a certain makeup,” Sewell said. “But it was not like the world came to an end if you didn’t reach those goals. The important thing was that you showed progress toward those goals.”

Ventura County has made progress in boosting its hiring of minorities over the years, but representatives from cities have said they are far from achieving their goals of a balanced work force.

White males continue to hold a disproportionate share of government jobs, especially as top executives, officials say.

“When you look at Ventura County and what kind of gains have been made in government institutions, you don’t see many Latinos, yet we make up 26% of the county’s population,” said Francisco Dominguez, head of the nonprofit social service agency El Concilio del Condado de Ventura.

“People think there is no discrimination anymore but there are still places where Latinos and others are underrepresented. If people feel that discrimination won’t occur, we need to monitor to make sure that it doesn’t occur.”

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At the university level, officials at Cal State Northridge, which has a satellite campus in Ventura, agreed the ruling would not change current admissions or hiring policies.

“I don’t see that it will have any effect on the Ventura campus. We do not not admit students based on race or gender,” said Jeanette Mann, special assistant to the president for equity and diversity.

But Mann said some minority students may misinterpret the initiative and not apply for fear they will be turned down.

“It has a terrible psychological effect on students and their families,” she said. “CSUN is not the UC, and we don’t take race into consideration. This might keep people from applying so there is a potential for a very negative effect.”

But supporters of Proposition 209 say a ban on preferential treatment will assure equity.

“It’s good,” Simi Valley Councilwoman Sandi Webb said. “I have always felt that affirmative action was reverse discrimination and not any more fair than discrimination.”

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Federal appeals court revives ban on affirmative action. A1