TALKING POLITICS Civil Rights Roundtable questions Carcieri on equal opportunity BY BRIAN C. JONES

The Rhode Island Civil Rights Roundtable has chided Governor Donald L. Carcieri for a new executive order promoting equal opportunity in state government, calling the document "feeble" compared with those of previous governors. In a detailed critique of the document, the coalition of rights organizations says, "This order is weaker than any previous executive order issued on the subject in recent memory."

But the Carcieri administration has issued a point-by-point rebuttal, arguing that the new order is actually broader than previous ones and puts greater accountability on state agencies. Further, administration officials sound stung by the roundtable’s sharp tone. "The governor is disappointed that his efforts seem to be misinterpreted," says Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal. "He’s particularly troubled by some of the inflammatory language used, which does not seem designed to foster cooperation and a mutually agreeable solution."

Despite the crankiness of the exchange, administration staffers and Roundtable representatives were slated to meet to discuss their views on March 2, after the Phoenix’s deadline.

The Civil Rights Roundtable is among the groups that faulted Carcieri’s civil rights record early in his term, criticizing him in 2003 on several fronts, including failing to nominate a black woman judge to the Supreme Court and for authorizing a state police raid on Narragansett Indian land. The governor has since has nominated a number of persons of color and diverse ethnic backgrounds to top positions, including Rafael A. Ovalles as the first Hispanic to be nominated as a District Court judge.

While acknowledging those moves, the Roundtable said Carcieri’s equal opportunity executive order differs from one issued in 1996 by fellow Republican Governor Lincoln C. Almond, because it lacks some enforcement mechanisms and appears to emphasize preventing discrimination, without aggressively correcting past hiring imbalances. "Missing is any emphasis on taking affirmative steps to promote equal opportunity," the Roundtable said in a written statement, contrasting that with General Assembly-passed laws requiring the government to actively "correct deficiencies" in past hiring patterns.

But the Carcieri rebuttal contends that he raised this subject. The document directs state agencies to "identify and actively promote employment opportunities for qualified individuals that historically have been underutilized in the state government workforce."

Toby Ayers, executive director of Rhode Island for Community & Justice, a Roundtable member, says in an interview that Carcieri’s order lacks the detailed steps required by his predecessor to ensure that agencies carry out the order’s directives.

The Almond version created a "Governor’s Executive Committee for Equal Opportunity" to oversee enforcement; but that panel isn’t listed in the Carcieri order. The administration says the new order places "greater accountability where it belongs" and requires state government to comply with all state and federal laws, not just those enumerated in the order.

Ayers says these kinds of orders are important for the tone they set. This is especially so in Carcieri’s case, she says, because he’s "a governor that people, inside and outside of state government, listen to and respect."

The administration contends Carcieri is trying to set a high goal. "The intention of the governor was to draft the strongest possible executive order," says the analysis released by Neal. "It is the governor’s view that the order is stronger than prior orders and achieves his objective."