Romney says he will alter diversity plan

Denies intent to water down antibias effort

By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff, 8/29/2003

Seeking to quell harsh criticisms of his affirmative action overhaul, Governor Mitt Romney yesterday promised to reinstate elements of the state's longstanding diversity policies that he effectively eliminated by executive order earlier this summer.

Romney, in his first public comments on the executive order he signed two months ago, said he never intended to water down the affirmative action guidelines, some of which were established 20 years ago by then-governor Michael S. Dukakis.

"If there's anything in the regulation which was issued that needs to be amended with old language from the prior regulations, we're happy to do that," Romney told reporters in a State House hallway yesterday. "There's nothing we're trying to eliminate. We're only trying to build upon what's been done in the past with a new, more effective effort in increasing the number and the percentage of people from all backgrounds and ethnic heritages in state government."

Romney's June 17 executive order revoked seven prior affirmative action executive orders, effectively eliminating some long-standing state policies on diversity hiring. In place of detailed guidelines on affirmative action, Romney established a more general statement of principles. A Romney aide said the governor also wanted to streamline the regulations.

Romney's order nullified earlier governor's orders calling for punitive measures, such as hiring freezes and closer supervision, against state departments that do not use hiring practices consistent with the goals of affirmative action. It eliminated the explicit role of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination in state employee hiring disputes. It also replaced the state Office of Affirmative Action with a new Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity.

The Romney order also revoked requirements that departments provide ongoing diversity training programs. His order includes no discussion of how affirmative action must be applied in the awarding of contracts by the state; it revoked a requirement that all private health care facilities licensed by the state comply with nondiscrimination policies in patient admissions. Dozens of other affirmative action regulations were also superseded.

Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, Romney's most vocal critic, asserted yesterday the executive order dismantles the infrastructure of affirmative action in state government. Turner complained that the new policy has no teeth, because it fails to back up the principles with consequences for those who do not comply with them.

But Ruth N. Bramson, the state's chief human resources officer, insisted that the punitive regulations, and many others, will be reinstated after a special, 15-member Governor's Diversity and Equal Opportunity Advisory Council is convened next month. The Romney order also says Massachusetts will continue to comply with state and federal laws.

However, the council's plans to reinstate some of the earlier regulations did not mollify Romney's critics yesterday. While Turner and others were pleased to hear that Romney was open to reinstating rules from the revoked orders, they still reproached the governor for his methods.

"This is a very poor way to go about changing a major policy issue," Turner said. "If he has a commitment to do good, he should bring back the executive orders that he revoked and make changes within the context of what is already placed there ... over the last 30 years, rather than eliminating the framework and adding details as it gets requested. Otherwise, I think it's double-talk."

If Romney were truly trying to build on existing affirmative action regulations, he wouldn't have revoked them, said Julie Patiano, a staff attorney at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, who was deputy chief of the state Office of Affirmative Action between 1996 and 1998.

"It's mischaracterizing for him to say ... he's broadening it," she said. "If that was the case then you would revise and amend prior executive orders. You wouldn't revoke and supersede them."

Romney's response to this point came from Bramson, the chief human resources officer: The previous orders, she said, contained "a lot of repetition and conflicting information."

"We felt it was time to update the order, and the best way to do that was to create a brand new one," Bramson said. "We [wanted to] make diversity much more of a modernized concept in the state. We didn't see the executive order as a statement of the policy. It was meant to be a statement of philosophy, and a commitment that would guide us in writing guidelines and policies."

Romney said the new executive order was intended to make the state's affirmative action policy - renamed as the diversity and equal opportunity policy - "have a greater outreach."

"Instead of thinking about punishing, let's go more positive and reach into the community to hire more individuals of varying backgrounds," he said, adding that he was "proud that 37 percent of our hires have come from the minority community since I've been governor."

Bramson said she had discussed the new order prior to its signing with the legislative black caucus, and with Senator Dianne Wilkerson, the Roxbury Democrat who was harshly critical of the order earlier this week.

"They did raise the issue that it needed more specifics and we explained this was going to be a precursor to developing guidelines and strategies," Bramson said. "And that seemed to satisfy them."

Wilkerson said yesterday that she said nothing back then that "was intended to express support for the executive order," though she did suggest changes to its language, which Bramson said were incorporated.

Romney said he would reinstate punitive measures such as freezing jobs in departments that do not fufill diversity goals, but said he was not sure if that measure had been used and whether it was effective. In 1997, Metropolitan District Commission hiring was frozen because of the agency's weak affirmative action record.

Reinstating that and other regulations will be the job of the 15-member advisory council established by Romney's June 17 order.

But the makeup of that council also concerned critics yesterday. According to Romney's order, the advisory council must include representatives of the House, the Senate, organized labor, business, a civic association, an educational institution, and five at-large members, among others. Advocates said they were concerned there was no requirement that a member of a minority advocacy group be included. Bramson countered that many of the people to whom she has already reached out are minorities.

But Patiano said that is not enough to ensure that minorities are adequately represented, that board members should be advocates for minority communities, and not just members of them - "someone who represents something beyond themselves."

Bramson said the council would produce detailed diversity guidelines in October.