Dallas County Democrats
Bush And Civil Rights

Texas Civil Rights Advocates Issue Clear Warning to Voters

October 31,2000:

A group of more than 90 civil rights advocates from across the state of Texas have signed a petition urging the election of Al Gore as President and blasting Texas Gov. George Bush as a threat to civil rights and workers' rights.

"As Texans, we have witnessed first-hand Gov. George Bush's legislative and judicial allies gut countless long-standing protections of Texas citizens' civil rights," the Petition states. "We have seen these same forces successfully resist new proposals to strengthen our laws against civil rights abuses."

The civil rights advocates noted that the next President will have the opportunity to appoint three or four justices to the United States Supreme Court. "Given his past statements and his documented record in Texas, there is no doubt that citizens, and particularly workers, will lose significant civil and Constitutional rights," said National Employee Rights Institute advisory board member Bill Isbell, one of the Petition's backers. "In Texas, we have witnessed first hand Gov. Bush's administration and judicial allies strip Texas citizens of many important rights and protections. Voters need to know their Constitutional rights are on the table in this election. A vote for Bush is a vote to set back the civil rights movement by 30 years."

The Petition notes that judges on Gov. Bush's short-list for nomination to the Supreme Court "have already held that some discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability, is permissible." The Petition explains, "If, for example, Rosa Parks' employer told her-in response to her opposition to discriminatory treatment--to 'move yourself to the back of the company bus to make room for the white employees,' these 'Bush judges' would permit this conduct, believing that it does not violate our laws."

"Gov. Bush's indifference to fundamental notions of justice is not sporadic or accidental. It is commonplace and deliberate," the Petition adds. All the Petition's signers unanimously urge voters to go to the polls and register their disagreement with Gov. Bush's approach to civil rights.

Rod Tanner, a Fort Worth labor lawyer, said, "One of the judges on Gov. Bush's short list for the Supreme Court just ruled that a man whose lawyer slept through his capital murder trial was effectively represented at trial and can thus be put to death by Gov. Bush. It was the office of the Governor's own hand-picked Attorney General that continues to push to kill this man knowing that his attorney slept during the trial instead of just agreeing to a new trial. Voters need to understand that Mr. Bush's judicial appointees will take away important rights nationwide." Mr. Tanner is a past chair of the Texas State Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Section.

Mr. Tanner was referring to a decision made last week by a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Court of Appeals in the Calvin Burdine capital murder case. One of the two judges in the majority, Edith Jones, has been identified by ABC News and other respected media sources as one of the four or five judges on Gov. Bush's short-list of potential Supreme Court nominees.

The Petition also rebukes Gov. Bush for his opposition to federal and state hate crimes legislation and what it calls the Bush administration's dismal record of fighting the application to state workers of the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Pay Act and other federal laws designed to protect workers from discriminatory treatment.

"Under a false mantle of 'compassion,' Bush has led the fight to protect irresponsible corporations and governmental agencies from being held accountable for their reckless conduct that has endangered and injured ordinary, hard-working inhabitants of this state," said David Van Os of San Antonio, Texas, another of the petition's signers.

"While Gov. Bush claims to be a 'compassionate conservative,'" said Margie Harris, President of the Texas Employment Lawyers Association, "his record shows his indifference to the health and safety of our State's citizens, especially its poorest." "For example," she added, "he fought efforts to expand health insurance coverage to our poorest children in 1999, he vetoed the Patients' Bill of Rights, which became law only over his opposition, and he refused to support legislation that would have increased criminal penalties for hate crimes. When it comes to those Texans who are the most deserving of compassion, Mr. Bush has simply not shown it."

The civil rights advocates approving the Petition include leaders and members of the NAACP, LULAC and other civil rights organizations from across the state in their individual capacities. The group also includes former EEOC and NLRB attorneys, several present and former board members of the National Employee Rights Institute and the National Employment Lawyers Association, former presidents of the Texas State Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Section, and many of the leading civil rights lawyers and advocates in Texas.

"Bush has sought to limit the access of everyday citizens to a fair judicial system in Texas-a system which is often an individual's last resort against powerful forces. In doing so, he has sought to confiscate the most potent weapon in our democratic arsenal, and to disarm ordinary people who seek nothing more than simple justice," said Dallas civil rights lawyer Ken Molberg. "Al Gore and Joe Lieberman offer the best vision for America in a new century. Unlike Gov. Bush, they will fight to maintain the civil rights of the people of this nation and the protective standards that ensure a level playing field for its working men and women."

A copy of the Petition is attached.

For more information, contact:

Bill Isbell (214) 357-8590

Rod Tanner (817) 377-8833

David Van Os (210) 225-1955

Margie Harris (713) 526-5677

Ken Molberg (214) 748-5276

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

We, advocates for civil and employment rights in the State of Texas, support the election of Al Gore and Joe Lieberman on November 7th. As Texans, we have witnessed first-hand Gov. George Bush's legislative and judicial allies gut countless long-standing protections of Texas citizens' civil rights. We have seen these same forces successfully resist new proposals to strengthen our laws against civil rights abuses.

The United States has a legacy of supporting civil rights. It has an interest in making sure that hate groups and the crimes they inflict don't metastasize from one neighborhood to another. Our governor does not share this view. He opposes the federal "hate crimes" bill. He proudly fought a similar measure in the last session of our state legislature in the wake of the brutal, racially motivated murder of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas. Gov. Bush's collaborators have opposed the application of essential job protections to our state employees-the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other anti-discrimination laws.

Gov. Bush's indifference to fundamental notions of justice is not sporadic or accidental. It is commonplace and deliberate. Whether the issue is the expansion of child health care (which he opposed), a patient's bill of rights (which he vetoed), the environment (over whom he placed a chemical industry lobbyist), or the right of our citizens to a fair judicial system (which he has sought to dismantle), our governor, without fail or hesitancy, has taken and will take the side of the interests most adverse to the well-being of the people.

Other examples are abundant: our Governor has failed to explain why he does not oppose the sale of cheap handguns to felons or deter their access to our children. Nor have we heard why the elderly should forego the promise of Social Security or why we should effectively abandon the public school system of our country. He has not demonstrated why the exercise of governmental power is appropriate when used to condemn people's property and raise their taxes if it benefits him personally (as was the case immediately before he was elected Governor), but is obnoxious and treacherous when used to protect those who have little or no influence.

We are not overstating when we say that George Bush has sought to disarm the populace of Texas of their most basic democratic freedoms. The problem is serious and demands immediate action. It threatens you personally--on your job, at home, and in your daily interactions with business and government. The next President will likely appoint 3 or 4 Supreme Court justices, and many federal appeals court judges. They will determine what your rights are, and when and if they are enforced. In the last debate, Gov. Bush, deliberately confusing quotas with affirmative action, refused even to endorse the Supreme Court's admittedly conservative view that affirmative action may be used to remedy a proven, egregious, regular history of racism.

Consistent with this mindset, judges on Bush's short-list for the Supreme Court have already held that some discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability, is permissible. If, for example, Rosa Parks' employer told her-in response to her opposition to discriminatory treatment--to "move yourself to the back of the company bus to make room for the white employees," these "Bush judges" would permit this conduct, believing that it does not violate our laws. Only days ago, these same so-called jurists sent a man to the death chamber after a lower court judge, a Republican appointee, no less, ordered a new trial after finding that his court-imposed lawyer had slept through critical portions of his trial.

We realize that some people say voters don't care about the electoral process unless and until it affects their own pocketbooks, or they personally experience the loss of their civil rights. We disagree. We believe Americans care about what happens to other people. If the nation elects Mr. Bush, the rights of all within this country will dwindle.

In contrast, we believe that Al Gore and Joe Lieberman have demonstrated their commitment to a vigorous protection of our civil and employment rights. They will continue to do so. Please join us on November 7th in voting for Al Gore and Joe Lieberman.

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