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Kansas City is facing a lawsuit alleging its programs aimed at helping minority and women-owned businesses are discriminatory toward white people and men.
The lawsuit, launched by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, claims that the city’s Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise program is unconstitutional.
Hanaway claimed that Kansas City's programs violate the equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment, as she filed the lawsuit to declare the policies unlawful.
The Republican said in a statement as she announced the lawsuit: 'Kansas Citians deserve a system based on fairness, merit, and equal treatment, not one that sorts people and spends taxpayer dollars based on race or sex.
'The city’s unlawful quotas violate the core promise of equal protection under the law, shut out qualified businesses, and deny hardworking Missourians the chance to compete on a level playing field.'
Hanaway launched the lawsuit to also compel a federal judge to permanently bar Kansas City from considering race and sex when awarding third-party business contracts, per the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas slated Hanaway's lawsuit as a 'political stunt,' saying in a statement that he was not concerned about losing the programs, as 'our lawyers will handle it.'
It comes as Lucas has faced scrutiny for failing to clamp down on an influx of biker and ATV gangs taking over his city in recent months, which has seen residents say they are terrified to go out at night.
The dystopian scenes in the city have been likened to the Mad Max movies, which saw a 'road warrior' played by Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy terrorized by post-apocalyptic gangs riding motorbikes and ATVs.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway launched a scathing lawsuit against Kansas City, alleging its programs aimed at helping minority and women-owned businesses are discriminatory toward white people and men
Kansas City's Democrat Mayor Quinton Lucas slated Hanaway's lawsuit as a 'political stunt', saying in a statement that he was not concerned about losing the programs, as 'our lawyers will handle it'
It comes as Lucas has faced scrutiny for failing to clamp down on an influx of biker and ATV gangs taking over his city in recent months, which has seen residents say they are terrified to go out at night
Lucas has come under fire for the wave of street-racing gangs running riot in his city, but he told the Daily Mail in May that he rejects claims that he's personally responsible for the collapse of law and order in his city.
Read More Mad Max mayor's outrageous excuse for the lawlessness going on in his own city
'We need to make sure that we have enough officers,' Lucas said.
In his response to Hanaway's lawsuit this week, Lucas said he had 'much hope that Missouri finally had an Attorney General committed to fighting human trafficking, eliminating elder abuse, and protecting Missouri’s seniors from fraudsters.'
'Unfortunately, we still do not, as our new Attorney General takes part in yet another culture war issue,' he said.
'Our lawyers will handle it. The people of Missouri and Kansas City will lose, as talented young lawyers in her office spend their time on another political stunt rather than the safety of Missourians.'
But Hanaway claimed in her filing that Kansas City purposefully discriminated against white people and minorities by excluding them from its business enterprise program.
Hanaway's lawsuit was brought on behalf of Kansas City company Industrial Salvage & Wrecking Co. Inc. and its owner, Charles Cacioppo, who said he wants to bid for government contracts 'in a system where Kansas City does not consider race or sex.'
The city has had some form of the Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise program for over three decades.
The city of Kansas City (pictured) has had programs for women and minority-owned businesses for decades, but Hanaway said an increase in award-giving goals was discriminatory and unconstitutional
Downtown Kansas City has become a hotspot for illegal street racing and reckless ATV and dirt bike riders tearing through the neighborhoods, leaving locals afraid to step outside after dark
Under its most recent policies approved in 2016, the city set a goal of awarding 14.7 percent of its contracting dollars to minority-owned businesses, and 14.4 percent to women-owned businesses.
While the program states that a 'disparity study' must be carried out to prove racial, ethnic or gender groups are underrepresented in the city contracts, Hanaway said she was not convinced.
She said in her lawsuit that recent studies 'did not identify specific instances of intentional race or sex-based discrimination in Kansas City public contracting.'
'Nor did it provide evidence of Kansas City’s active participation in race- or sex-based discrimination in the award of city contracts.'
The Daily Mail has contacted Lucas as well as Kansas City Manager Mario Vasquez and Jaime Guillen, director of the Department of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, who are named as defendants in the lawsuit, for comment.