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Reverse discrimination strains troubled budget
by Ryan Masse
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Budget deficits have been a way of life for Wisconsin in recent
times. Earlier this year, state lawmakers scrambled to pass a repair
bill designed to close a $652 million shortfall in the current state
budget running through June 2009. When work begins on the next
biennial budget, the governor and Legislature will be staring a
$1.6 billion structural deficit in the face.
Unfortunately, the state Department of Administration may not have
noticed. In May, officials there awarded a $29.5 million contract to the
construction firm Shaw-Lundquist Associates, Inc. to renovate and
expand a science building on the University of Wisconsin-Stout
campus. The bid from Shaw-Lundquist won despite coming in $1.3
million above the lowest bidder.
State officials do not claim the extra $1.3 million will result in a better-
constructed science building. Rather, they ponied up the extra money
because Shaw-Lundquist is a minority-owned business. The company,
located in St. Paul, Minn., was founded in the 1970s by a Chinese
immigrant who now goes by the name of Fred Shaw.
In giving the nod to Shaw-Lundquist, officials invoked a 1984 law that
allows ¬— though does not require ¬— the state to award contracts to
qualified minority-owned firms so long as their bid comes within 5 percent
of the lowest bidder. Last year, the Doyle administration made it a
requirement if the bid still comes in under the state’s projected cost.
Shaw-Lundquist’s $29.5 million bid came in below the $33 million the
state estimated for the UW-Stout project. Neenah-based Miron
Construction Co. submitted the lowest bid at $28.2 million, or 4.5
percent less than Shaw-Lundquist’s. Another Wisconsin firm submitted
a bid between the two.
The size of the price differential ¬— $1.3 million — is raising eyebrows at
the Capitol. Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, has called for a special
session of the Legislature to eliminate racial preferences in the awarding
of state contracts.
State Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, has taken a less aggressive
approach. Kaufert, who represents the district where low-bidder
Miron is located, says the policy should be tweaked to avoid benefiting
thriving minority-owned firms that need no special help. A cap should
be established to limit the program to businesses under a certain
size, he says.
Indeed, though Shaw-Lundquist is not as large as the two Wisconsin
companies that underbid it, it is not a small business. It claims to be
the largest minority-owned construction contractor in the Midwest
and largest Asian-owned contractor in the nation, boasting more than
$75 million in annual revenue.
Kaufert’s notion that nuance is needed in affirmative action programs is
not unique. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has
acknowledged that blindly elevating race above other factors — such as
class — may not always make sense. Asked last year whether his
daughters, whose parents both hold advanced degrees and earn far
more than the average American, should be given preferential treatment
from college admissions officers, he admitted they “should probably
be treated” the same as other children from privileged backgrounds.
The Doyle administration would do well to explain why Shaw-Lundquist
is any different than Obama’s daughters. With $75 million in annual
revenue and a track record spanning back decades, it can hardly be
said the firm could not compete without special treatment. Similarly,
the notion of diversity — which is used to justify race-based affirmative
action irrespective of economic status — cannot be claimed in the
context of a construction contract. (I make the small assumption that
Shaw has noplans to move his personal residence to the new
UW-Stout science building.)
The ultimate insult, of course, is that the Shaw-Lundquist contract wil
l line the coffers of a Minnesota-based company, instead of supporting a
company like Miron that is located in — and employs residents
of — Wisconsin.
But hey, when a state is in as good of financial shape as Wisconsin is, why
would we worry about such things anyway?
Ryan Masse (rmasse@badgerherald.com) is a second-year law student.
badgerherald.com