Activists Take Davis to High Court Over Diversity Program

Civil rights groups took Gov. Gray Davis to the state Supreme Court on Wednesday after he ignored their pleas to revive a program that monitors diversity among the state’s contractors.

The program was banned by former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, who said it was no longer necessary after Proposition 209 prohibited the state from conducting affirmative action programs for women and minority contractors.

Civil rights groups contend that the monitoring program--which asks contractors to identify their race and gender--is essential to ensure that no discrimination occurs in the state’s issuance of billions of dollars in contracts.

“I don’t think we have given up hope that eventually [Davis] will do what’s right on this issue,” said Oren Sellstrom, an attorney with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco, which originally filed suit against Wilson’s executive order. “He is not an extremist on these issues.

“On the other hand, by refusing to repeal the executive order, he risks continuing Pete Wilson’s extremist policies,” Sellstrom said.

Davis press secretary Michael Bustamante said he would not comment on the topic Wednesday because it is still being litigated.

Davis inherited Wilson’s role as defendant in the lawsuit when he became governor in January. Last month, a state appellate court upheld the governor’s position, saying that Wilson had the authority to remove the diversity monitoring program.

A coalition of civil rights groups made repeated appeals to Davis, saying that he could revoke the Wilson order with the stroke of a pen and avoid further litigation.

After several meetings with Davis aides and attorneys, however, the groups said the governor had not yet reached an opinion on the topic. Wednesday was the deadline by which they were required to appeal to the state Supreme Court.