The San Francisco Civil Grand Jury is a Progressive Era institution, designed to keep an eye on the crooks in city government (San Francsico is unique in that alone on California it combines the functions of a city and a county in government). It is court—appointed, and cannot issue formal indictments, but only reports to the public what it finds. A friend of mine once sat on it, and reported that it was a tremendous civic experience, trying to root out corruption. His jury found a lot of it. And nothing was done.

In its latest report, the Civil Grand Jury finds that San Francisco

continues to violate the state law that prohibits the use of race and gender preferences in awarding contracts, incurring "unnecessary risks and costs....''

The law in question is Propsition 209. The CGJ lays our for the voters the reality that huge lawsuits are going to brought and won by the new victims of discrimination — those who are not members of favored minority groups.

Nobody is going to pay much attention, because a good story of victimization still goes a long way in liberal strongholds. But eventually, the taxpayers are going to be making settlements that will be very costly. They have been warned.

Thomas Lifson   5 28 05