
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 17, 1991                   TAG: 9104170505
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

RIGHTS PANEL SAYS BUSH VETO WORSENED TENSION/ PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF FANNING

President Bush has "fanned the flames of racial intolerance" and heightened racial tensions through his veto of the civil rights bill and other policies, a group of former federal civil rights officials contended today.

The Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights said in a report that Bush's actions have not matched his rhetoric in support of civil rights.

It charged Bush and his administration have made irresponsible political use of the issue of racial quotas in hiring and promotions, exploiting white resentment toward minorities and women for partisan advantage.

The president vetoed the 1990 civil rights act, arguing it would encourage employers to use such quotas despite the insistence of civil rights advocates that it would not. He has opposed on the same grounds a similar Democratic-sponsored bill this year.

"The administration's rhetoric in opposing the bill . . . not only mischaracterized the legislation, but has also fanned the flames of racial intolerance and division," the commission said. "In short, the Bush administration has failed its first critical test on civil rights."

White House press spokesmen did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday in advance of the report's release.

The report did praise the Bush administration for supporting the Americans with Disabilities Act last year, which extended rights to people with physical handicaps. It credited the president with appointing women and minorities to top government jobs, and said the administration has improved enforcement of voting-rights and fair-housing laws.

But in most areas of civil rights policy and enforcement, the commission said, the administration "has continued the policies of the Reagan years that constricted opportunities and curtailed remedies."

It called Bush's judicial appointments disappointing and said the judiciary is increasingly hostile toward civil rights advocates. Of 70 vacancies on the federal bench filled by Bush in two years, eight were women, three were black and two were Hispanic, the report said.

"The administration's selections have been overwhelmingly white, conservative, wealthy and male," it said.

The commission said that in the face of increasing social problems among minorities, the administration continues to pursue "abstract and sterile debates about the need for `colorblind' remedies."

The administration, it said, has made clear that it believes government has virtually no obligation to overcome the vestiges of past discrimination.

"By insisting on race and general neutrality, by refusing to acknowledge that unintended discrimination may well have discriminatory impact which reduces opportunity, the administration is significantly narrowing the scope of civil rights protections," the report said.

by CNB