Bush Appointments: Keep Them White!

Text and links from the Center for American Progress:

ADMINISTRATION -- DESPITE HUNDREDS OF NEW POLITICAL PPOINTEES, WHITE HOUSE HIRING OF MINORITIES AND FEMALES PLUNGES:

A new report by the Democratic members of the House Government Reform Committee finds that during the Bush administration's first five years, "the number of political appointees on the federal payroll has soared while the number of minority and female political appointees has declined dramatically." According to the report, "over 300 new political appointees have been added to the federal payroll" since January 2001, while the number of "Schedule C" political appointees, "who are hired without public transparency or congressional approval, has increased by over 400," a jump of 33 percent. Meanwhile, the administration "has added 564 white political appointees and reduced the number of minority political appointees by 273, representing a 50% decline in the proportion of minority political appointees serving in the federal government." Also, as a proportion of all political appointees, female appointees have declined from 45 percent to 36 percent since 2000. The report notes, "The Clinton Administration reduced the overall number of political appointees by 17%, increased the proportion of female political appointees by 15%, and more than doubled the proportion of minority political appointees. All three trends have been reversed in the Bush Administration."