Lynn Martin the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said Monday she will vote to override President Bush`s veto of a civil rights bill approved by Congress.
”I will have to go against my president,” the Rockford-area congresswoman told about 100 students at Chicago`s Du Sable High School. ”I`m a Republican, and I don`t like to go against my president. But you have the right to know where I stand on civil rights.”
Bush had promised to veto the Democratic-sponsored measure, saying he fears it would force companies to adopt quota systems to hire employees.
The bill would make it easier for minorities and women to win discrimination-in-hiring suits. The House approved the bill 273-154, and the Senate approved it 62-34. Neither margin constituted the two-thirds majority that would be needed in each chamber to override a presidential veto.
Martin is challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, who voted in favor of the bill in the Senate.
