Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Thursday, 8 Oct 1992 22:25:23 CDT
From: <U56503@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton
Subject: ==> Clinton/Gore On Civil Rights

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Information in the public interest which does not imply that it
is the opinion of UIC.  Contact 75300.3115@compuserve.com for
further information.
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           CLINTON/GORE ON CIVIL RIGHTS



For twelve years Republicans have divided us
pitting rich against poor, black against white,
woman against man, and creating a country where we
no longer recognize that were all in this together.
They have profited by fostering an atmosphere of
blame and denial instead of building an ethic of
responsibility.  President Bush and Vice President
Quayle had the chance to bring out the best in us.
Instead they appealed to the worst.

The White House's greatest responsibility is to
bring us together, not to drive us apart.  A
Clinton/Gore Administration will actively work to
protect the civil rights of all Americans.   Bill
Clinton will nominate jurists to the federal courts
who have demonstrated wisdom, maturity, and
intelligence in their legal work jurists with a
firm grounding in the rule of law and a firm belief
in the fundamental importance of civil rights equal
opportunity in our society.  A Clinton/Gore Justice
Department will aggressively prosecute offenders of
civil rights laws and will argue before the U.S.
Supreme Court for interpretations of the law that
support its underlying content.

Bill Clinton and Al Gore believe Americans want to
be part of a nation that is coming together.  It is
time to heal the divisions that have scarred our
nation.

Rights for all

*    Support strong and effective enforcement of
     the 1991 Civil Rights Act to ensure workplace
     fairness rules for all Americans.  Bill
     Clinton criticized President Bush for
     cynically characterizing the landmark 1991
     Civil Rights Act as a quota bill.

*    Oppose racial quotas.

*    Crack down on violence against women  in the
     workplace, on college campuses, and in their
     homes; sign the Violence Against Women Act to
     provide tougher enforcement and stiffer
     penalties to deter domestic violence.

*    Support the Equal Rights Amendment and work
     hard to ensure its passage.

*    Strongly enforce the Americans With
     Disabilities Act.

*    Extend language assistance provisions in the
     Voting Rights Act to ensure language-minority
     Americans an equal opportunity to participate
     in the political process.

*    Enforce Title 9, which prohibits sex
     discrimination in education.

*    Support federal civil rights legislation for
     gays and lesbians that respects freedom of
     religion by exempting religious organizations;
     and that provides clear evidence standards to
     be used in court.

*    Support the Equal Remedies Act, which lifts
     damages caps for women, people with
     disabilities and religious minorities in
     workplace discrimination cases.

*    Work to pass the Motor-Voter Bill,  which will
     ease voter registration requirements and bring
     more Americans into the political process, but
     which President Bush vetoed.

*    Support statehood for the District of
     Columbia.

Economic empowerment

*    Fight for civil rights, not just by protecting
     individual liberties, but by providing equal
     economic opportunity; support new anti-poverty
     initiatives that move beyond the outdated
     answers of both major parties and instead
     reflect the values most Americans share: work,
     family, individual responsibility, community.
     Empower people to make their own choices and
     regain control of their destinies.

*    Require every employer to spend 1.5 percent of
     payroll for continuing education and job
     training  -- and make them provide the
     training to all workers, not just executives.
     Workers will be able to choose advanced skills
     training, the chance to earn a high school
     diploma, or the opportunity to learn to read.

*    Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to
     ensure that no one with a family who works
     full-time has to raise their children in
     poverty by making up the difference between a
     family's earnings and the poverty level.

*    Bring business, labor, and education leaders
     together to develop a national apprenticeship
     system that offers non college-bound students
     valuable skills training, with the promise of
     good jobs when they graduate.

*    Launch a national network of community
     development banks to spur economic growth in
     urban and rural areas by making loans to
     low-income entrepreneurs who start new
     businesses and to home owners.



The Record

Involving and empowering those once excluded

*    Bill Clinton has named African Americans to
     numerous cabinet positions in Arkansas,
     including the Arkansas Department of Health,
     the Department of Human Services, the
     Department of Finance and Administration, and
     the Arkansas Development Finance Authority.

*    Clinton's appointment record is equally strong
     for women: his gubernatorial campaigns have
     been managed by women, his longest-tenured
     chief of staff was a woman, and in 1988 the
     National Women's Political Caucus ranked
     Clinton sixth among the nations governors in
     the percentage of women appointed to
     cabinet-level positions

*    Clinton appointed African Americans and women
     to the most powerful state boards and
     commissions for the first time in Arkansas
     history.

*    Under Governor Clinton's leadership, Arkansas
     has been a national leader in enacting
     legislation and developing programs to
     preserve Native American cultures, including
     passage of an act that prohibits the
     desecration of Native American burial sites
     and the commercial trade or display of human
     remains and sacred objects.

*    Senator Gore was an original cosponsor of the
     Civil Rights Act of 1990 and supporter of the
     Civil Rights Act of 1991 which restore
     protections against racial and ethnic
     discrimination struck down by the Supreme
     Court in the 1988-89 term.

*    Opposed Congressional prohibitions on busing
     to achieve desegregation.

*    Cosponsored the Fair Housing Amendments Act of
     1987.

*    Cosponsored the Equal Remedies Act which will
     remove limitations on dollar amounts of
     compensatory and punitive damage awards in
     cases of intentional employment discrimination
     against women.

*    Consistently supported ratification of the
     Equal Rights Amendment.

*    Supported the AIDS Federal Policy Act of 1987
     which bans discrimination against persons with
     AIDS or the HIV infection.

*    Was an original cosponsor of the Americans
     with Disabilities Act.

*    Voted for the Motor-Voter Act, which President
     Bush vetoed, and which would have made it
     easier for people with disabilities to
     register to vote.

Expanding economic opportunity

*    Governor Clinton created the Division of
     Minority Business Development to expand
     minority business opportunities.  Together
     with the Arkansas Development Finance
     Authority, the Division has assisted
     minority-controlled businesses in Arkansas
     with $5.2 million.  It also offers regular
     financial advice.

*    Invested more than $19 million in
     predominantly African American communities for
     streets and roads, housing, city water
     projects, fire protection, and community
     centers, and over $11.5 million for sewer and
     wastewater projects and community parks in
     those communities.

*    Supported the creation of the Small Business
     Revolving Loan Fund, to provide loans to small
     and minority businesses primarily in rural
     areas.

*    As Attorney General and Governor, Bill Clinton
     recruited and employed qualified persons with
     disabilities on his staff.  Under Clinton's
     current administration, the State Directors of
     the Division  of Rehabilitation Services, and
     the Division of Services for the Blind are
     qualified individuals with severe
     disabilities.

*    With the legislature in 1985, Clinton
     established the Governor's Commission on
     People with Disabilities.  The Commission has
     sparked more involvement and participation by
     persons with disabilities in both the public
     and private sectors.

*    A decade before the Americans with
     Disabilities Act, Governor Clinton supported
     administrative action to permit state agencies
     to secure adequate accommodations for staff
     with disabilities, regardless of costs.

*    Senator Gore consistently supported programs
     designed to assist businesses owned by
     minorities and women.  He has helped expand
     minority business development through programs
     like the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise
     program.

*    Authored the Small Business Innovation
     Development Act to provide a more equitable
     and effective distribution of research and
     development funds for small businesses.  He is
     the cosponsor of numerous bills designed to
     encourage small business ownership and
     maintain a favorable tax policy for small
     capital growth.

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