Archive for Doug Tietz
On November 4, 2008, 58 percent of Nebraska voters barred their state and local governments from preferring and discriminating against individuals based on race in hiring, contracting, and admissions.
After the governor certified the results, Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative executive director Doug Tietz said, “The voters overwhelmingly supported the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative and now Nebraska’s state motto ‘equality before the law’ is officially the law of the land.”
As expected, the new law was challenged in court. Last week, a Nebraska court upheld the ban. Ruling against a group called Nebraskans United, Judge Karen Flowers wrote that the facts didn’t present any evidence of fraud, as the group claimed. (Source)
“The most common phrase in the judge’s ruling is, ‘there is no evidence,’” Tietz said. “It is time for the opposition to put to rest their baseless allegations and acknowledge the people’s decision to end race and gender preferences in public contracting, public education, and public hiring”
Will Nebraskans United end up appealing Judge Flowers’s ruling? Most likely. They probably won’t prevail, since the lower court found no evidence of fraud, but that won’t stop groups from trying to overturn the vote.
Protecting and upholding the will of the people is no small task, is it?
Filed under: Doug Tietz, NECRI | |Comments off
So it is written, so shall it be done!
Last week, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman certified the results of the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative (NeCRI) and officially enshrined the language of the initiative in the state constitution.
NeCRI executive director Doug Tietz said, “The voters overwhelmingly supported the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative and now Nebraska’s state motto ‘equality before the law’ is officially the law of the land.”
On November 4th, Initiative 424 passed with over 58 percent of the vote.
Filed under: Doug Tietz, Initiative 424, NECRI | |1 Comment
Although 49 percent of Colorado voters chose to end the practice of government preferential treatment and discrimination, 50 percent chose to retain that practice. Amendment 46 narrowly failed to pass on Tuesday.
In contrast, Nebraska’s voters did the right thing by putting their state and local governments out of the skin color business. Initiative 424 passed with almost 58 percent of the vote. When asked about this victory and future ballot initiatives, Ward Connerly told the Associated Press that “it certainly strengthens the effort…The people of Nebraska, who have a motto of equality before the law, simply are reinforcing that.”
Nebraska’s new constitutional amendment will face court challenges.
After Initiative 424’s victory, Doug Tietz, director the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, told the SW Iowa News that “Democrats, Republicans, independents — they can agree that the government shouldn’t be playing politics based on race and gender…That’s the message of tonight. Nebraska believes that equality before the law is not only the state motto, it should also be enshrined in the state’s constitution.”
Nebraska’s government agencies and institutions will now have to review current policies to root out discriminatory and preferential practices.
Update: Steven Willborn, dean of the University of Nebraska’s law school, said it was okay that his school admitted under-qualified black students. With that confession on record, administrators at the law school and other state-supported schools in Nebraska will have to review programs to determine whether they violate the state’s new law.
Last month, the Center for Equal Opportunity released a study that documented cases of “severe discrimination” in the University of Nebraska law school’s admissions process.
Filed under: Amendment 46, Doug Tietz, Initiative 424 | |2 Comments
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