Lansing Update: April 7, 2006
Posted April 7, 2006
In this issue of Lansing Update:
One United Michigan Campaign Kicks-Off
Michigan Catholic Conference stood in solidarity this week with members of several business and labor organizations, Republicans and Democrats as well as various religious denominations in an effort to begin defending the affirmative action policy in Michigan.
Since 2003 Mr. Ward Connerly, a former University of California regent, has been working with several out-of-state interests to amend the state’s constitution in order to prohibit public institutions that hire or contract with the state of Michigan from utilizing the affirmative action program. Similar proposals, which also ban institutions of higher education from formulating their own admissions policies, have passed in California and Washington state.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement on Faithful Citizenship: “where the effects of past discrimination persist, society has the obligation to take positive steps to overcome the legacy of injustice. We support judiciously administered affirmative action programs as tools to overcome discrimination and its continuing effects.”
The mis-named Michigan Civil Rights Initiative has collected enough signatures to put the anti-affirmative action proposal on the November ballot. This week One United Michigan, which Michigan Catholic Conference servers as co-chair, announced to the state that it has formulated the most diverse, broad-based coalition in the history of Michigan.
Michigan Catholic Conference has pledged that in the coming months it will work to educate Catholic voters across the state on the negative ramifications of this ballot proposal.
More information is available at www.oneunitedmichigan.com [Link no longer available —Ed.]
Editor’s Note: The Michigan Legislature is on it annual spring break and will return to legislative session Tuesday, April 18.