ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION GROUP CHARGES C.R.C. BIASED
The group spearheading the effort to end affirmative action in Michigan government and universities said Wednesday it would not accept an invitation to a hearing to be held by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission because the state agency is biased against it.
At a press conference in Southfield, Jennifer Gratz of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative said a hearing scheduled later in the day in Detroit by the Civil Rights Commission would amount to a "kangaroo court, one where its mind is made up and is designed to give (the opposition group By Any Means Necessary) a stage upon which to conduct its ridiculous political theater."
The hearing was called to hear complaints from individuals that the MCRI may have mislead voters, especially African American voters, into signing the petitions to put the issue on the 2006 ballot by telling them it would protect affirmative action.
The proposal would, in fact, outlaw governments and universities in the state using racial or gender considerations in making decisions.
A spokesperson for the Department of Civil Rights said the MCRI had been invited to the hearing to get all viewpoints. The hearing was not intended as any sort of investigatory hearing but as a chance for the public to air its concerns about the petition process.
Last month, after the State Board of Canvassers split on placing the proposal on the ballot despite being ordered by the Court of Appeals to do so, the court placed the issue on the ballot itself. The court also ordered an expedited process to develop the language for the proposal and last week a draft proposal was released by the Bureau of Elections.
But the Civil Rights Commission is already on record opposing the proposal.
And in the press conference, Ms. Gratz, executive director of the MCRI, said the commission is incapable of holding a "fair and impartial public hearing on this issue given its vocal and public opposition to our initiative."
The organization has also denied any charges that it used fraud or did anything misleading in gathering its petition signatures for the proposal.
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