White Committee Chairmen Hire Fewer Black Aides: Congressional Survey

Congressional Quarterly:

Black aides are so scarce on some House committees that the Congressional Black Caucus surveyed the panels. Their conclusion: black staffers are most prevalent when African American chairmen do the hiring.

Read the whole story: Congressional Quarterly

Comments

[digeridoo2]

Sounds like Congress needs some Affirmative Action...oh wait, that would decrease the number of black employees.

[Gordo10]

just look at both houses in DC there's only ONE Senator in the entire SENATE out of a nation of 300 million. The Congress looks like a scene from the 70s white over here & blacks over there opps thats more like 2009. Oh I forgot there wont be ANY PERSON OF COLOR IN THE SENATE BY 2010 GOD bless Amerikkka lolol

[Gordo10]

umm it took research to figure this out ummm whites dont like to be around blacks unless they have .....

[fallout4U]

Dem Chairmen are rac-ist. And they get 98% of the black vote, go figure.

[SeeJaneRunning]

Only in the mind of liberals is this "news". If the story is to believed, blacks are OVER represented by 50% (18+% vs population of 12+%). Up is down.

[WilliamL]

with political role models like those who were sent to their grave, it is not too difficult ot understand the lack of political interest in the black community.

better be judged by twelve than carried by six

[IndyReader]

Sometimes, seriously, sometimes I think I'm reading freerepublic.com or redstate.com when I read here.

[YewNeekId]

Read the whole article, particularly the following sentence:

"Overall, the survey found that African Americans account for a percentage of committee staff -- 18.7 percent -- that is higher than the 12.8 percent of the national population that is black."

There is no problem. Why is fluffpo fanning the flames???

[joemondo]

I wonder what the proportion is of GLBT staffers, hired by white and by black chairs.

[M1]

Don't ask Don't tell!

[M1]

Oh, and stop whining. LOL

[mat3]

And don't forget to check under the desk.

[Disuberence]

Republicans hire all the gay staffers, ask them!

[M1]

Impossible. They just don't have the fashion and high intellect one would expect if their staffers were all Gay.

[Bashley]

As someone who spent a few years volunteering for a congressperson, not many non-black students/applicants pursue jobs in black congressperson's office. I'm close to a black congressperson in Texas who was baffled at how many women's colleges she'd visit, campuses she'd canvass for elections and the different communities she served, yet very few of the white people with interests in political science, legistlation, pursuing a career in politics would apply in her offices. Most of their applicants are people that match their constituents. I have several white friends who worked on the Obama campaign and talked about ending poverty, but only served under their white Congressman or Congresswoman, they wouldn't apply to any inner-city or rural black areas.

[mereader]

The following is a comment on the logic of this survey and the above text discussing its conclusions and NOT on racism / favoritism per se.

So: if we were to do this right then we should mix a cocktail of whites, blacks, asians, latinos, native americans, few other significant minorities, gays, few major religions represented (I am forgetting anyone?) in ratios REPRESENTATIVE of their numbers in total population plus half of them (roughly) should be women, yeah… & good luck with that!

[mudbones]

How about black committee chairman, what is the ratio there? I would aguess we'd see the same trend

[mereader]

and how about the alaskan inuit committee chairman ratio? or latino? or gay? or jewish? or female?

[mereader]

how about any other minority versus white chairman ratio? you want to fight for the rights of the underprivileged? do not forget that the world is not black and white, you know.

[Logistics]

This is ridiculous!! Maybe the black applicants are NOT as prepared as the white and (gasp!) there are fewer black applicants than white because only 12% of the population is black.

And of course if you put a black person to hire, s/he'll hire more black people. But the committees are not hiring black or white aides, they are hiring appropriate and prepared people for the job.

RIDICULOUS!

[noudidnt]

So you are ASSUMING people aren't prepared because of the color of their skin.

Typical

[ladydragon]

Steny Hoyer's office is in my town (Waldorf, MD) and HE does not have even ONE raisen in that whole bowl of milk, I'll never vote for him again

[Logistics]

Your vote doesn't matter anyway.

[ladydragon]

Logistics

well, to Hoyer my vote doesn't matter, because I don't vote for him anyway. several years ago I called his office asking for assistance. the white female staff in his office was so completely disrespectful and smart-assy, I e-mailed and called his office up on the hill to let them know about the behavior. His office immediately returned my call, but by then I was done with him and his staff and told is Aide that I would never vote for him again and that I would urge my family and friends to follow suit.

[noudidnt]

tell that to Al Franken

[flurryup]

Blacks aren't raisins or raisen (you mispelled). You cut your own point with that kind of rhetoric. You only perpetuate a stereotype. Not cute at all.

[CommonSenseMom]

I am not at all racist but I have observed that sometimes when blacks take lower governmental/state positions they tend to fill the support positions with black people. Whites are less likely to hire purely white because they are not motivated to "elevate their race" like blacks are. I see this all the time in our Southern city Mayor's office and city council. I think the truth is that white people tend to hire for qualificat­ion.....wh­ere blacks tend to hire on affirmative action. And in the long run it ends up hurting blacks.

[Poboy]

Besides your anecdotes, please provide any source of EVIDENCE to support your assertions.

I bet you don't have any, except from your delusions.

[noudidnt]

co sign

Where's the documented proof? I know a lot of Irish FFs in New York and Boston. Why te ethnics tend to hire other wh yte ethnics based on their shared ethnicity.

[ladydragon]

CommonSenseMom
that's a damn lie and you know it. Stop talking about Black people like you know what the hell you're talking about. I've been in the federal workforce for 26 years, I was here before Affirmative Action and the "Glass Ceiling" I can tell you for a fact that I have seen white employers hire unqualified whites for positions over well educated experienced African Americans simply because they want to work with someone who looks like them.
btw: I work on Capital Hill here in DC and I am a native Washingtonian

[Logistics]

That's totally and completely true. There are signs of this everywhere. If you have a black manager in ANY environment, chances are the employees will be disproportionately black. And I'm not talking about black neighborhoods at all, this is at very diverse or otherwise communities.

[Poboy]

It appears you suffer from the same delusions.

Any Evidence?

[noudidnt]

Where's the documented proof? I know a lot of Irish FFs in New York and Boston. Why te ethnics tend to hire other wh yte ethnics based on their shared ethnicity.

This is completely true too.

[flurryup]

Commonsense- That is a lie and a ridiculous lie at that. I work in the a state senate office and if blacks get hired in a white pols office they know somebody to get in there, along with the most killer resume. Stop talking about s hit, you know nothing about.