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

[CommonSenseMom]

It's not about race.... it's about QUALIFICATIONS.

Does this writer ask how many qualified African American candidates are applying? Are there qualified African Americans being turned down for equally or less qualified white applicants? If so, then that is a major problem.

[flurryup]

I meant to type white people.

[LostRiverLedger]

FYI - The Congress is exempt from EEO laws........because.....the jobs in question are usually patronage jobs....the question to ask is for whom did the recipients campaign......there's the rub......

[dteg]

Well if they are patronage jobs and all the white democrats limit committee staffs to one black person there is a serious problem. I am sure blacks make up a higher percentage of the democrat party than they do the national average. And you can not tell me blacks to work to help the democrats in campaigns

[LostRiverLedger]

The your argument would condemn both.........

[cbates]

What about the total historical underrepresented minorities (women and Native Americans)?

[joemondo]

What about it?

[Logistics]

Those people don't need to whine like the blacks do because they fight and win over the system. Black people just whine and expect others to cater to their wants.

[noudidnt]

like the reverse ra y cism whin ing by you wh yt e crybabies

[M1]

"the total historical underrepresented minorities (women and Native Americans)?"

and GAYS!

[Daniboy]

Can Satomayer rule on this?

[YewNeekId]

As soon as Sodomyer explains why she belonged to a 'women' only club.

[Daniboy]

I didn't know there were any more Repub chairman. We certainly aren't talking about Dems are we?

[tokenconservative]

By definition, that means that Black committee chairs hire less white aides.

[3rdpartypatriot]

Racism!

[dteg]

and means white democrats hire almost all white aides. Kinds of reminds you of MSNBC personalities that have their own shows

[joemondo]

But per the article, white chairs hire black staffers roughly in proportion to the percentage of blacks in the general population. It's the black chairs who appear to behiring way out of whack to the general population.

[wndrwrthg]

Sounds like a two way street.

[Simone]

What a misleading headline.

[lvdragonlady]

People are surprised by this?? Welcome to the real world. This kind of thing happens everyday in America, it is just not news worthy like it should be.

[Georgia1992]

I'm not surprised!

[Poboy]

Let's have the Congress determine a test on- line, where they determine the factors needed to conduct EVERY job in the Congress, other than Legislator, which is gotten through the elections.

Let's have the people with highest scores chosen for each, individual job, with no interview, no second interview, no employment history, no credit check, no health history, etc., considered, because this is what the White Supremacists use to discriminate against minorities. The only requirement is that they be a US citizen.

And let's have it all open for the public to see.

Enough of this cronyism and nepotism. This applies to the business sector as well.

It's dumbing down and corrupting society.

[Georgia1992]

I enjoyed your comment because it's very real. This is a sensitive topic for me. I used to work in corporate America and the "cronyism" and "nepotism" that happened before me would blow your mind. Also, hiring managers were given the go-ahead to promote behind closed doors: called employee (s) at home and offered them job (s), offered an employee a promotion while out on disability, knew the employee didn't have the listed qualifications, but was given the job anyway, and the list goes on. Not only is this dumbing down and corrupting society, it caused havoc for every employee in the organization. We had many qualified employees, but the hiring manager turned a blind eye and deaf ears to it. Could it be fear? Intimidation?

[starkcr31]

Gee, what a shock that blacks hire more blacks. If anything, this proves the racism on part of the blacks.

[Logistics]

FANNED

[barackobama4prez]

I wouldn't want to be an aide to anyone who doesn't value me as a person nor my sacrifice and servant. That means Minorities will have to seek out opportunities where they are a better fit, with Chairman who have less hang-ups about race.

[barackobama4prez]

*my sacrifice and service*

[RightWingMarine]

the article notes that black chairmen disproportionally black aides, would this be a lack of diversity on their part? I suspect that the Congressmen hire from their districts in order to buy votes (an aide is unlikely to vote against his benefactor and work towards his own termination) and hire according to whom they believe would deliver the most votes.

[AdamX]

Why do black representatives hire a disproportionate number of blacks? Some are racist, I suppose...

[joemondo]

Based on the article, it sounds like the white chairs are hiring in about the proportion blacks are of the population, and the black chairs are hiring blacks at a disproportionate rate to their percentage of the population.