Bush Returns Fire on Critics

 Initiative to end quotas defended; senator rebuked

 BY STEVE BOUSQUET
 Miami Herald
 sbousquet@herald.com

 TALLAHASSEE -- Returning home to find himself embroiled in the most explosive
 controversy since he took office, Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday lashed out at the
 critics of his plan to end racial preference laws in Florida.

 The governor saved his harshest words for a South Florida senator who has
 suddenly turned on him. Sen. Daryl Jones, D-Miami, was a crucial backer of the
 governor's diversity proposal until he changed course Tuesday, quitting his
 chairmanship of a Bush task force on school inequities and criticizing the plan for
 creating ``an atmosphere of potential corruption'' in the doling out of state
 contracts. Jones' reversal followed a backlash from fellow members of the
 legislative black caucus, which he chairs.

 Jones issued a statement Wednesday night saying he decided Bush's plan will
 hurt women and minorities.

 ``I know that the governor is hurt. But I have decided to put the people first,'' said
 Jones, once nominated by President Clinton to be secretary of the Air Force but
 whose confirmation was rejected by the Senate. ``Based on the overwhelming
 response that I have received, I know that I have done the right thing.''

 Bush's proposal for a voluntary diversity plan as a replacement for 20 years of
 race-based admissions to state universities and minority business set-asides has
 erupted into a fiercely partisan debate involving black leaders, builders, students
 and members of Congress.

 The fight in Florida has taken on national political overtones, with black
 congressmen using Bush's initiative to attack his brother, Texas Gov. George W.
 Bush, the leading Republican presidential candidate.

 Eager to regain the high ground in the racially sensitive debate, Bush called a
 press conference hours after his return from a trade mission to Israel. He spent 20
 minutes discussing his One Florida Initiative, which is being advanced in part to
 head off businessman Ward Connerly's drive to put an anti-affirmative action plank
 in Florida's Constitution.

 Bush sent Jones a letter noting the senator was fully briefed on the plan more
 than a week ago, making it look like his resignation ``was based on nothing more
 than political considerations.''

 ``Your comments, reported today, questioning the sincerity of my One Florida
 Initiative, cheapen the public discourse on such an important topic for the future of
 our state,'' wrote Bush, who added he still holds ``great respect'' for Jones.

 Bush then reminded Jones of a comment by civil rights leader Martin Luther King
 Jr.: ``Sometimes we are called upon to do things that are neither popular nor
 politic nor safe, but we must do them because they are right.''

 One of Bush's proposals would eliminate race as a consideration in admissions to
 state universities. The state Board of Regents is expected to discuss the
 proposal when it meets Friday.

 Bush said he spoke to Jones by phone Monday from Israel between business
 meetings, and the senator reiterated his willingness to work cooperatively. ``Then,
 whammy!'' Bush said.

 ``We can play politics all we want, on both sides,'' Bush said. ``I'm not playing to
 the intense partisanship on either side here. In fact, there's some comfort in being
 criticized by Ward Connerly and by Corrine Brown.''

 Rep. Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat and one of three African Americans in
 Florida's congressional delegation, kept up her attacks Wednesday, labeling
 Bush's plan a ``scheme'' and ``worse than nothing.''

 Democrats are frustrated by Bush's consistently high poll numbers in public
 opinion surveys, and appear to be enjoying watching Bush wrestle with the
 biggest controversy of his young administration.

 ``It's blowing up all around him,'' said Tony Welch, a spokesman for the Florida
 Democratic Party, who said Bush should have recalled his inaugural address,
 when he said the answers to many of the state's problems can be found outside
 Tallahassee .

 ``He cooks it up in a back room, then expects the people to accept it,'' Welch
 said. ``It's good policy when you agree with the governor and politics when you
 don't.''

 Jones was not the only black politician who voiced qualified support for the Bush
 plan. Rep. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, who backed Bush for governor last
 year, told The Herald last week that Bush's effort to streamline the system of
 certifying minority contractors was ``very impressive.''

 Smith, a lawyer, said the early kind words for the plan were ``intellectual'' and did
 not reflect voters' views. Smith now says: ``That's why you see the backpedaling
 by elected officials. People are telling us it's not a good policy.''
 

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Carl Gutiérrez-Jones
Department of English
University of California, Santa Barbara
e-mail: carlgj@humanitas.ucsb.edu