Another sit-in at Bush office possible Another sit-in at Bush office possible
Saturday, March 11, 2000
Miami Herald
CHARLES SAVAGE
TALLAHASSEE -- The two state legislators who led the fight against the One Florida Initiative plan set the stage Friday for a possible second sit-in in the governor's office, warning that they will go to Gov. Jeb Bush's office suite at noon Monday. Declaring it was ``time to raise this thing to another level,'' Sen. Kendrick Meek of Miami and Rep. Tony Hill of Jacksonville, both Democrats, told reporters that they will show up at the governor's office to demand that he rescind his executive order ending racial and gender preferences in university admissions and state contracts.
Bush responded by inviting the entire Black Legislative Caucus to meet with him at 4:30 p.m. Monday instead, at a location to be announced. Bush had invited the group to the governor's mansion two weeks ago to discuss One Florida, but the majority, including Meek and Hill, stood him up. ``At this point it is appropriate to meet with the entire Black Legislative Caucus, rather than schedule repeated meetings with individual members,'' Bush said.
Meek and Hill did not return calls to their offices Friday afternoon after Bush's counteroffer was made public. Bush also said that while he was willing to discuss the issue, he had no intention of rescinding the ban on racial and gender preferences. He noted that preliminary data from Florida State University shows that minority admissions increased 18 percent this year without using race as a factor in admissions. Meek and Hill galvanized a statewide grass-roots movement against Bush's plan by staging a sit-in in the lieutenant governor's office Jan. 18.
They originally said they wouldn't leave until the governor rescinded his One Florida plan, but ended the sit-in the next day when Bush agreed to meet with them. At the press conference, Meek and Hill refused to answer questions about what they intend to do if they are not given a meeting with the governor at noon. Asked about the possibility of a sit-in, they repeated like a mantra their intention to show up at the governor's office at noon Monday. ``It is not a threat; it is not a threat at all,'' Meek said. ``We're just saying we'll be at his office at 12 noon on Monday.'' Meek and Hill have been riding a two-month wave of popularity and publicity, and the announcement appeared to be an attempt to pump new life into the One Florida protest movement, which reached a climax Tuesday when thousands of marchers descended on the state Capitol.
``Each time we have had the opportunity to present our case, we have run the score up,'' Hill said. ``On Tuesday we ran the score up again. We don't know what else we can do to send the governor a message that we need him to rescind his order.'' The two lawmakers also criticized the media for focusing too much on racial aspects of the controversy and downplaying gender. U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, another vocal opponent of One Florida, told The Herald that Hill called her Friday afternoon to inform her of the planned visit. ``I thought the march was very successful, and I don't think it's dead,'' Brown said. ``It's not like the circus-- it's not going away. What do you do when failure is not an option? That's where we are.''
An aide to U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, Kendrick Meek's mother, said she was traveling and not available for comment. In a related development, Kendrick Meek and Hill on Friday sent a letter to Adam Herbert, chancellor of the state university system, informing him that it would be illegal to implement Talented 20, the educational component of One Florida, while an NAACP legal challenge of the program is pending.
In his response, Bush declined to hold off on its implementation, saying it would keep ``hundreds of talented minority students out of our universities this fall.'' ``I will not support efforts to hold students hostage while that litigation is ongoing,'' Bush said. ``I will not interfere with the rights of the regents and universities to set race-neutral admissions standards.''
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