In an op-ed for the Evening Bulletin, attorney Gregory J. Sullivan takes issue with City Council's attempts last week to ensure more minority inclusion in the expansion of the Convention Center - not because of their attempts to open it up to non-union firms, but for establishing any kind of racial set aside at all.
There's some quoting of a Supreme Court decision thrown in for good measure.
Of course, we have heard the arguments for and against affirmative action before, most famously in the seminal Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case in 1978, which was about affirmative action in the context of academic admission.
In his op-ed, Sullivan basically take the position that government's only responsibility is to ensure that, in the case of the Convention Center, black contractors and workers are not kept out of the work based on the color of their skin. In his opinion, it's fine if they end up being kept out because their contracting firms are uncompetitive or, in the case of the workers, they aren't in the unions. As long as the government makes sure that people aren't being discriminated against based on skin color, everything is hunky-dory.
These arguments seem very similar to arguments by conservative, free-market proponents, often economists, who say that the free market can fix everything from health care to public schools. Often, these arguments are based on the market being perfect. We all know that perfect conditions do not exist.
And yes, in an ideal world, in which there is no other discrimination based on skin color, where blacks and whites enjoy the same educational opportunities, the same housing conditions, where everyone lines up evenly at the starting line, it may be sufficient for the government to have the role suggested by Sullivan. Unfortunately, that's just not the case. And so government, in this case City Council, must do what they can with a situation that is directly under their control - authorizing the Convention Center expansion.