Here’s another difference between committed leftist politicians and our cocktail conservative dilettantes. Leftists will pass laws supporting misguided beliefs, even in the face of lawsuits they know will be coming after the bill becomes law.
Conservatives in name only will panic at the first hint of a lawsuit and refuse to sign bills that protect their base from leftists.
California’s Assembly Bill (AB 979) is a perfect example.
National Public Radio (NPR) (or, National Panhandler’s Radio) reported the "law was on shaky ground from the get-go with a legislative analysis saying it could be difficult to defend and then-Gov. Jerry Brown saying he was signing it despite the potential for it to be overturned by a court."
Compare that with the cowardly surrender of the governors of Utah and Indiana to the consonant crusaders when the politicians merely feared someone, somewhere might file a lawsuit.
Details in our column here.
AB 979 was another California racial preference bill. NPR again: "The measure requires corporate boards of publicly traded companies with a main executive office in California to have a member from an 'underrepresented community,' including LGBT, Black, Latino, Asian, Native American or Pacific Islander."
Judicial Watch, a defender of the Constitution, filed suit late last year to overturn the law. Judicial Watch characterized the bill as, "[embodying] stereotypes that treat individuals as the product of their race, [ethnicity, sexual orientation, or transgender status] evaluating their thoughts and efforts — their very worth as citizens — according to criterion[s] barred to the Government by history and the Constitution.
"In the end, AB 970 is simply a numerical set-aside that amounts to racial, ethnic, and LGBT balancing."
Judicial Watch filed suit on behalf of three California taxpayers: Robin Crest, Earl De Vires and Judy De Vires.
Last week the court granted Judicial Watch’s motion for a summary judgement and declared the law unconstitutional without the necessity of going through a formal trial.
Judicial Watch issued a statement in the wake of the ruling declaring, "In its ruling today, the court upheld the core American value of equal protection under the law. Judicial Watch’s taxpayer clients are heroes for standing up for civil rights against the Left’s pernicious efforts to undo anti-discrimination protections."
But here is the remarkable fact surrounding this ruling: Absolutely no corporations joined Judicial Watch in its lawsuit. Not a single corporation in California or the rest of the country thought this obvious unconstitutional encroachment on corporate rights was important enough to fight!
Instead, corporations meekly surrendered to the political kommissars in Sacramento.
To give you an idea of just how bad the situation is "300 out of some 700 corporations [reported the corporation] had complied [with the law]."
Is this a symptom of corporate cowardice?
Or, is it an indication of corporate agreement with an unconstitutional law?
Is it woke, or is it choke?
We feel it’s a combination of both, but either way it’s just another indication that conservatives’ slavish concern about the needs of business is misplaced.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.