Dole Takes Aim at ‘Preferential’ Hiring : Politics: Staking out position for presidential contest, Senate leader would undo race- and gender-based affirmative action provisions.

WASHINGTON — Staking out a clear opposing stand on the most important civil rights issue of the coming presidential race, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) introduced legislation Thursday to end “preferential treatment” based on race, national origin or gender in the awarding of federal contracts and the employment of federal workers.

The legislation, which Republicans say that they hope to pass early next year, would wipe out dozens of special funding laws that now reserve at least $13 billion a year for businesses owned by blacks, Latinos, Asians and women.

It could also affect the hiring and promotion prospects for hundreds of thousands of minority and female employees in the federal government.

But the Republican proposal would not bar affirmative action by private employers, nor would it prohibit federal agencies from reaching out and seeking more minority applicants.

Just last week, President Clinton strongly reaffirmed his support for affirmative action, saying it has been “good for America” and is still needed to remedy discrimination.

Dole conceded that he had once supported affirmative action.

But he complained Thursday that these special programs begun 30 years ago as “temporary remedies” for discrimination have grown to become “a seemingly permanent fixture in our society.”

“It is time to stop making government policy by race . . . [and] end the ridiculous pretense of quota tokenism--special contracts, a set-aside there, a couple of TV stations, a seat or two in the Cabinet,” Dole said. “This is a Band-Aid” that does not cure the problems of minority Americans and “a corruption of the principles of individual liberty and equal opportunity upon which our country was founded,” he said.

Private employers with federal contracts would gain more freedom if Dole’s bill becomes law. It would repeal the federal executive order that requires federal contractors, including hundreds of large companies, to adopt “goals and timetables” for hiring minorities and women.

At the same time, Dole decided against offering an amendment to the federal civil rights law that permits all employers to give preferential treatment to minorities and women over white males in hiring or promotions.

The bill is similar to the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling on affirmative action last month. The court held that federal programs granting preferential treatment based on race are unconstitutional. Unlike Dole’s bill, however, the court left open a narrow window allowing such policies when they are intended to correct specific, provable cases of discrimination.

*

The court’s decision, like the legislation, had no effect on private employers who have affirmative action programs giving preference based on race and gender.

Rep. Charles T. Canady (R-Fla.), sponsor of a companion House bill, said that he plans to conduct hearings on it later this year. But House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) has been lukewarm to the idea. He has cautioned that Republicans need a positive program to appeal to blacks and Latinos, not just a proposal that wipes out programs designed to help them.

While Clinton and the Democrats fret that their support for affirmative action might drive away white working-class voters, Republicans worry that their drive against affirmative action might end their hopes of winning over more minority voters.