Free Republic

Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Local NAACP to pay voters $2 to register -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Organization hopes to sign up 4,000 By Kevin Aldridge The Cincinnati Enquirer AVONDALE - The Cincinnati NAACP wants to register more than 4,000 African-American voters by April 30 as part of an empowerment campaign. NAACP officials said Monday that they would pay a stipend of $2 for every valid registration, including new registrations and address or name changes. The money would come from the NAACP's National Voter Fund. "The stakes are too high (in the November 2004 election) to sit back and allow the chips to fall...

Mayor Daley on Wednesday opened the door to contract set-asides for businesses owned by gays and lesbians--provided they can prove they were frozen out of city contracts because of past discrimination. Daley kept the volatile issue alive, one day after Chicago's first openly gay alderman took the first step toward a gay agenda that will start by extending ethics rules to the live-in partners of gay and lesbian city employees and could end with contract set-asides. "You have to look at it. You have to have an open mind. There's nothing wrong with that," the mayor said. Daley said he...