Danny Westneat / Times staff columnist
Monorail's job goals on right track

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Civil disobedience usually means a citizen is refusing to follow a law imposed by the government.

The Seattle monorail's new affirmative-action program is an example of a government agency pushing the limits of — and perhaps violating — a law imposed on it by citizens.

Monorail officials signed a labor contract this week pledging that one-third of the construction jobs for the 14-mile elevated train should go to minorities and women.

Agency lawyers say the contract abides by Initiative 200, a law passed by voters in 1998 barring racial and gender preferences in public hiring. They say the contract is legal because it sets goals, not quotas.

But the contract language and statements by monorail officials suggest at least a desire to subvert the spirit of that law, if not its legal letter.

The contract cites the one-third hiring goal, but then adds that "a minimum threshold of one-quarter of the total labor hours will be performed by women and people of color."

That sounds like more than a goal. But monorail attorney Jan Keiser says there's no penalty if it doesn't happen, so it's not technically a quota.

However, if a firm does not pledge to meet the diversity goals, it may not get any work.

The monorail plans to award construction contracts on a points system, in which employing minorities and women is one of six criteria. Ability to meet the diversity goals is worth 10 points out of 100. It's less important than, say, cost (30 points) or design (20), but is equal to having a good management record.

I don't know if any of this violates Initiative 200. I asked monorail board member Cindi Laws what she thought.
 
"I don't really care if it does," Laws said. "It's an unjust law, and sometimes leadership is standing up and opposing an unjust law."

She stressed she was not speaking for the entire board. But it's clear that monorail officials generally agree with her.

You know what? So do I.

It is awkward that a government agency is potentially flouting a voter-approved law.

But the continuing lack of opportunity in the local construction industry, particularly for blacks, is the type of inequity against which someone ought to take a stand.

After the passage of I-200, the share of Seattle city construction contracts awarded to black-owned firms dropped by two-thirds.

Two years ago, this newspaper described how Initiative 200 had cut the yearly revenue of a black electrical contractor, Harold Wright, from $1 million down to $400,000.

I called him yesterday and he said it got worse from there.

"Last year it went all the way down to basically zero," he said. "Us blacks always said we wouldn't get any public work without laws to help us, and now you can see it's true — we're getting nothing."

What the monorail is doing is risky. The last thing this troubled project needs is a lawsuit over hiring practices.

Initiative 200 did do some good, such as reducing blatant reverse discrimination.

But there's a reason the once-hot movement to end affirmative-action programs hasn't spread to other states.

It's because we clearly still need them.

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.

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