Posted by Wacky Voice Of the Negro on December 16, 2010 at 15:32:18:
Meeks says minority contracts only for blacks
BY FRAN SPIELMAN
City Hall Reporter/[email protected]
Dec 16, 2010 03:26PM
Mayoral challenger James Meeks scrambled Thursday to put out a political fire touched off by his suggestion that only African-Americans should be eligible for city contracts set aside for minorities and women.
Meeks made the statement on Wednesday during an interview on WVON-AM (1690). It happened during a discussion of why African-American businesses got a 7 percent sliver of Chicago�s $1 billion spending pie through Aug. 31, down from 8 percent a year ago.
�The word �minority� from our standpoint should mean African-American. I don�t think women, Asians and Hispanics should be able to use that title,� he said.
�That�s why our numbers cannot improve � because we use women, Asians and Hispanics who are not people of color, who are not people who have been discriminated against.�
Hours after making those remarks, Meeks back-tracked by saying he would only exclude white women if elected mayor. The set-aside program currently earmarks 25 percent of all city contracts for minorities and 5 percent for companies owned by women.
�I don�t believe white women should be considered in that count �.You have white women in the category. They receive contracts. Then, white men receive contracts. Where does that leave everybody else?� he told Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 news.
On Thursday, Meeks issued a written statement further clarifying his remarks.
It emphasized that �all minority- and women-owned businesses� deserve their �fair share� of city contracts. But Meeks also noted that �systemic corruption� has allowed white-owned �fronts� posing as minorities and women to defraud the program and make African-Americans the �most under-represented among city contractors.�
�As mayor [Meeks] would put an end to the corruption and lack of accountability that has been allowed to go unchecked,� the statement said.
The explanation came too late to put out the political fire.
Hedy Ratner, co-president of the Women�s Business Development Center, was already �furious� at Meeks. She argued Thursday that, if anything, the 5 percent set-aside for women �should be higher.�
�We are still discriminated against by access to capital and access to opportunities. Women own service businesses that tend to be smaller. We don�t have enough opportunities to bid and compete for major projects,� Ratner said.
�Is he saying that this should be an African-American city with policies only for African-Americans? I�m surprised that a candidate for mayor who wants to represent the entire city would exclude a majority of its citizens.�
Paul Cerpa, executive director of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA), said the federal government has made it clear that the �presumptive group� of those historically discriminated against includes blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native-Americans and �women, regardless of ethnicity.�
Cerpa said it�s �extremely divisive� � and politically foolish � for Meeks to suggest excluding anyone during a race for mayor that will undoubtedly be won by the candidate most able to build coalitions across racial and ethnic lines.
�Minority business programs have generally been afforded for the benefit of all. Now to draw the line in the sand and say, �This is only mine � not yours� doesn�t allow everyone to play in the sandbox,� Cerpa said.
Of the $1 billion in contracts awarded during the first eight months of this year, African-Americans got 7 percent or $73.6 million worth, compared to 8 percent or $83 million for Asian-Americans, 14 percent or $142.2 million for Hispanics and 8 percent or $81 million for women.
In 2005, James Duff pleaded guilty to masterminding a scheme to defraud the city of $100 million in contracts earmarked for minorities and women.
A string of revelations by the Chicago Sun-Times provided further proof that Daley�s minority set-aside program had been manipulated by the politically connected at the expense of minorities.