Sources: Zinke tells employees diversity isn't important

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: CNN

Sources: Zinke tells employees diversity isn't important

By Sara Ganim, CNN

Updated 2:46 PM ET, Mon March 26, 2018

Washington (CNN) -- Several employees at the Interior Department have told CNN that Secretary Ryan Zinke repeatedly says that he won't focus on diversity, an apparent talking point that has upset many people within the agency.

Three high-ranking Interior officials from three different divisions said that Zinke has made several comments with a similar theme, saying "diversity isn't important," or "I don't care about diversity," or "I don't really think that's important anymore."

Each time, Zinke followed with something along the lines of, "what's important is having the right person for the right job," or "I care about excellence, and I'm going to get the best people, and you'll find we have the most diverse group anyone's ever had," the sources said.

Interior last year unexpectedly reassigned 33 senior executive staffers, of which 15 were minorities, according to the lawyer of one of the staffers who was moved. Some of those who were reassigned have filed complaints with the US Merit Systems Board. ... The accusations against Zinke come as he is under investigation by multiple agencies, including Interior's inspector general and Office of Special Counsel, regarding employee reassignment and taxpayer spending on possible politically related travel.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/politics/ryan-zinke-diversity/index.html

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I know: it's almost no longer news, and just the same broken record it was last week.

[MontanaMama]

1. Zinke is taking talking points from the Dotard.

He is scum.

[Spouting1horn]

7. Anyone who is against Diversity

must be dealt with harshly and quickly. How can this stand? Diversity is our Strength.

[jgmiller]

2. I agree he's scum but

if he reassigned 33 execs and 15 were minorities that doesn't show a bias against minorities. Statistically it would show a bias the other way. I'm all for diversity and against discrimination but that doesn't mean you can scream discrimination anytime someone does something to you that you don't like.

[LanternWaste]

5. It does however, mean that when someone states the following

"but that doesn't mean you can scream discrimination anytime someone does something to you that you don't like...."

It does however, mean that when someone states the following, "I don't care about diversity," or "I don't really think that's important anymore," discrimination can indeed be a concern relevant to the situation (pardon if I don't confuse "concern" and "screaming" simply because the melodramatics may strengthen my narrative in so doing...).

[meadowlander]

6. There aren't enough facts in the story to make the determination.

You would need to know the composition of the team before the changes. For example if the team was 300 people of which only 15 were minorities to begin with and the group of 33 people transferred included all 15 minority members, then that is obviously discriminatory even though they aren't the majority of the people transferred. We also don't know, for example, of the 18 non-minority people, how many were women or disabled people or people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds? Does "minority" only mean racial minority?

However, his comments by themselves (that we don't need diversity anymore) tell you more or less everything you need to know regardless of how the numbers shake out with the transfers.

[pansypoo53219]

3. birds of a feather. bohemian club member?

[JohnnyRingo]

4. Finding the white person for the job...

or did I read that wrong?