St. Louis Decertifies 5 Firms That Claimed Cherokee Ancestry to Get Minority Contracts
St. Louis has removed five businesses from its list of certified minority-owned firms. The move comes after those companies were featured in a massive L.A. Times investigation that revealed how businesses use "unsubstantiated claims" of Cherokee ancestry to land contracts intended for minorites.
Milking affirmative action programs has proved lucrative. Times reporters Adam Elmahrek and Paul Pringle found that federal and state authorities have awarded more than $300 million through minority contracting programs since 2000 — and in St. Louis, some of it has gone to firms that claim Native American ancestry without qualifying under current federal criteria.
St. Louis is front and center in the Times story. Of the fourteen questionable companies analyzed, four are based in St. Louis and one in Union, Missouri. All five scored contracts with the city.
In response, a city spokesman says St. Louis "has already begun more critical reviews" of companies which claim Native American heritage to qualify as a minority-owned business. That includes returning an application for minority status submitted by a company that failed to produce a tribal identification card from a federally-recognized tribe.
