Romney to keep affirmative action rules

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff, 9/11/2003

Under pressure from black leaders, Governor Mitt Romney yesterday promised to keep the state's old affirmative action policies in place until new ones can be drafted with their input.

The pledge appeared to assuage members of the Black Legislative Caucus and other minority leaders who had angrily protested Romney's quiet rewrite of the state's 20-year-old affirmative action policies earlier this summer.

Caucus members and other minority leaders had demanded that Romney revoke his executive order of June 17 repealing affirmative action, but Romney declined to go that far yesterday. In a memo to be distributed to state managers, the governor said that "all practices in place prior to the issuance of the [June 17] Executive Order . . . shall be the practices of the Commonwealth."

State Representative Marie St. Fleur, chairwoman of the seven-member caucus, said she was pleased with the governor's action.

"The needs and concerns of these groups must be taken into consideration," said St. Fleur, a Dorchester Democrat. "We are convinced that it was never his intention to abolish all the protections, policies, and procedures under any of the executive orders. He had a chance to talk to us, and we're going to work closely with him."

Anger over the executive order erupted late last month, when three members of the Boston City Council demanded that Romney immediately reverse the order, which drew little notice when it was issued. The order repealed a series of regulations laying out affirmative action policies in state government, many put in place in the early 1980s under then-governor Michael S. Dukakis.

Instead of detailed guidelines that included reporting requirements and enforcement mechanisms against agency heads who do not seek out diversity in job applicants, the governor put in place a general statement of principles upon which future guidelines would be based. Minority leaders accused Romney of quietly scuttling two decades worth of affirmative action advancements, which guaranteed fair treatment to minorities and other groups.

In yesterday's hourlong meeting, Romney told the lawmakers that the old protections and guidelines were being enforced all along, even though they were technically taken off the books by his executive order.

Shawn Feddeman, the governor's press secretary, said Romney is committed to building a diverse workforce, and noted that 37 percent of hires in the executive branch since he took office are minorities. "The governor had a good meeting with the black caucus, and he looks forward to an ongoing dialogue with the black caucus as we work together to ensure a diverse state government," Feddeman said.

The firm establishment of the guidelines is particularly important now, since many state agencies are preparing to lay off workers to cope with tight fiscal times, said state Representative Byron Rushing, a member of the black caucus. "I'm sorry that they put out the executive order that they did, because I think it created a lot of anxiety among state workers," said Rushing, a South End Democrat. "But we are back on the same page, since we have now agreed that the task is to improve affirmative action, and not abolish affirmative action."

Romney had said he would name the members of the Diversity and Equal Opportunity Advisory Council by the end of last week, but he told the black caucus yesterday that he is still about a week away from doing so, and solicited suggestions from the legislators. He has said he would appoint state Representative Benjamin Swan and state Senator Dianne Wilkerson, both of whom were at yesterday's meeting and told the governor they would serve on the council.

City Councilor Chuck Turner, who sponsored the resolution asking the governor to revoke his executive order, praised Romney for "amending an error that was made by his administration." But he said the final guidelines must build in the specific protections that were repealed by the executive order, or groups that have been discriminated against historically will be stripped of affirmative action protections.

"The guidelines can't just build on the flaws," Turner said. "The guidelines have to correct the flaws."

Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com.