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aceventura3 · 09-24-2006, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_dux

Galileo would be turning over in his grave at such intellectual dishonesty.

I apologize to you and everyone who has ever worked in or for the US Senate if I am as wrong as you would lead me to believe.

I do have a few questions about the SCCE:

Are you familiar with the office?
What is thier budget?
Why do it exist?
Have they ever lost a case? Do they ever settle out of court?

I did a quick GOOGLE search nothing too elaborate, but food for thought. Here an excert from May 2005 testimony to Congress.

Quote:

INCOMPLETE BIENNIAL OSH-ADA INSPECTION

During FY 2004, our Office of the General Counsel (OGC) was able to inspect only about 4 million square feet within 25 Legislative Branch facilities (some with multiple buildings). The General Counsel was unable despite best efforts to examine all Legislative Branch facilities during the 108th Congress biennial cycle of inspections, including large areas within the House and Senate Office Buildings and the U.S. Capitol Building space used for Member offices, Committee staff offices, and other non-AOC spaces as required by the Congressional Accountability Act.. Therefore, it is certain that many hazards remain unidentified at this time.

The total amount of covered premises in the metropolitan Washington region is in excess of 17 million square feet. Because of the comprehensive thoroughness with which the FY 2004 inspections were carried out, as was encouraged by GAO's February 2004 Report, over 2,300 serious hazards were identified in the 25 facilities inspected, as compared to 360 violations discovered in the same facilities and areas during the 107th Congress biennial inspection.

As part of the revamped inspection regimen, the Office is now utilizing a widely recognized risk assessment code (RAC) to classify all hazards found to exist in the ongoing inspections. The time and costs required to conduct more interactive and comprehensive inspections, and the nearly seven-fold increase in the number of violations identified just during 2004 has made manifest that the Office's current level of resources are completely inadequate to complete the ongoing inspection of all covered facilities in the D.C. metro area in the foreseeable future or to timely respond to requests for inspections by employing offices and employees.

http://appropriations.senate.gov/hea...nTestimony.htm

Here is an somthing I found, to me suggesting cronyism more so than racism, regardless - many major employers have ended up in court defending against prima facia evidence like this suggesting violations of the Civil Rights Act.

Quote:

Who Is Worst for Diversity? The United States Senate
By C. Stone Brown and Mark Lowery
© 2006 DiversityInc.com®
June 20, 2006
Printer-Friendly Format

This article originally appeared in the June issue of DiversityInc magazine.

The disclaimer on the job section of its Web site reads: "The United States Senate is an equal opportunity employer." Nothing could be further from the truth.

A DiversityInc investigation found that of the 4,100 U.S. Senate employees across the country, approximately 6 percent are people of color. That's bad enough,

considering that people of color comprise more than 30 percent of the U.S. population and represent 34 percent of the work forces of The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity.

Most importantly, people of color are virtually nonexistent when it comes to the most influential Washington, D.C.–based Senate aides. These critical decision makers are the equivalents of the direct reports to the CEOs of major corporations. They advise the senators on all issues and their recommendations usually are carried out.

The top Washington, D.C.–based positions in almost every Senate office—chief of staff, legislative director and communications director—are practically reserved for white men and women. And the Democrats, who historically have considered themselves the champions of people of color, are no better than the Republicans. With a few exceptions, senators of both parties refused to discuss their diversity problem.

Whether the subject is immigration, healthcare, Social Security or education, almost everyone within earshot of 100 of the most powerful men and women in Washington, D.C., is white.

"The fact that you have 100 U.S. senators and no African Americans who serve in the chief-of-staff position or very few legislative directors who are African American is a problem," says Paul Brathwaite, executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The numbers don't get any better. A senator, on average, employs about 40 people, with each senator having at least 10 senior-level aides. Of those approximately 1,000 senior-level positions, about 7.6 percent are people of color, according to the DiversityInc investigation. Of that 7.6 percent, 2.9 percent are black, 2.8 percent are Asian American, and 1.9 percent are Latino. By contrast, nearly 24 percent of the managers on The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list are people of color—9.7 percent black, 7.2 percent Asian American and 6.4 percent Latino—and 15 percent of the most senior-level executives at Top 50 companies—CEOs and their direct reports—are people of color—6.1 percent black, 4.8 percent Asian American and 3.8 percent Latino.

"When you really get down to who is calling the shots, who is making the recommendations of the people who are being given interviews, it's still a good-old-boy network," says Robert Harris, a legislative assistant in the House and vice president of the Congressional Black Associates, a networking group of black congressional staff members.

The problem is exacerbated by the scant attention the lack of diversity on Senate staffs has received from the mainstream media, which is why DiversityInc is highlighting this critical issue. "The only reason why this problem hasn't been solved is that there has been a lack of attention to it," says Michael Strautmanis, chief counsel for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

The Senate Hides Its Data

DiversityInc asked all 100 senators to provide information about the racial and ethnic makeup of their senior personnel, including committee staffers. We had as much success gaining that information as a black, Latino, Asian-American or Native American applicant would have getting hired for a senior Senate staff job.

Each senator, essentially, is a CEO. The senators answer to no one when it comes to the employees they hire for their personal staffs and committee assignments. That's because members of Congress have exempted themselves from most labor laws, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment Act of 1972, the Age Discrimination Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Their hiring practices also are exempt from the federal Freedom of Information Act, which allows journalists and the public information about non-classified federal data, including most federal staffs.
Despite repeated attempts, DiversityInc was unable to reach Ken Mehlman, chair of the Republican National Committee. Howard Dean, chair of Democratic National Committee, says he's proud of the level of diversity of his staff and criticized the lack of diversity on the RNC staff. The DNC has people of color in many senior-level positions, including chief of staff, director of the chairman's office, director of intergovernmental affairs, communications director, training director, director of specialty media, and three vice chairs. However, the DNC refuses to provide exact numbers.

We also reached out to influential members of the Senate, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. Despite letters, e-mails and numerous telephone calls, none were willing to discuss the issue or share their staff numbers.

Paul Thornell, a former Senate and White House staffer who is black, says most senators will tell you, privately, that they hire from within, promoting senior staffers from the junior ranks. But with so few people of color on Senate staffs, that policy guarantees the status quo will remain in place for years to come.

"I truly believe that the source of the problem is not overt discrimination that keeps people of color out of these positions. The hiring process is a broken one that has resulted in relatively few people of color in senior policymaking positions," says Thornell, senior vice president, public policy and field leadership, United Way of America. "Limited networks and candidate pools [and] the practice of hiring from within without a pipeline of existing minority employees are some of the dynamics that contribute to this situation."

"The fact that this is not a new problem suggests that the Senate needs to look at constructive and innovative strategies," Thornell says.

Strautmanis describes his experience working in the Senate as two worlds—one in Obama's office, where he sees diversity evidenced by whites and people of color in senior positions working on issues of great importance to the nation, and the other when he leaves Obama's office and steps back in time. Obama's overall staff is more than 50 percent people of color. His senior staff is 65 percent people of color.

"When I leave that world and walk around other offices, I find myself, frankly, in a situation that I'm all too familiar with, where I'm one of the few African Americans at the table," Strautmanis says.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., one of the few senators who will discuss the issue, has been deliberate in trying to create a staff that reflects his constituency. "Diversity is more than an imperative; it's just sound policy," Durbin says. His staff has 25 percent people of color, including Clarisol Duque, a Latina who is chief of staff in his Chicago office. It also includes Christopher Chang, an Asian American who serves as senior floor counsel.

The Senate's percentage of black employees has remained stagnant over the past 17 years. About 2.3 percent of all Senate employees across the country in 1989 were black, according to the Congressional testimony of Jackie Parker, deputy legislative director and senior policy adviser for Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. That presently is approximately 2.4 percent across the country.

http://www.diversityinc.com/public/21699.cfm

Some commented about my "Econ 101" approach to this topic, I suggest that we can not get to a higher level debate because we have to waste too much time covering those things that are self evident.

The amount of money and resources spent on complying with regulatory employment law suggests that most employers find compliance a challange, and certainly Walmart has its problems but so do most other major employers.

We can move on if you accept my premise. If not - please be warned - I am relentless - just like a pit-bull - woof, woof, bow-wow- wow, yippy yo, yippy yay.