Bloomberg's Diversity Hiring Record Questioned

Photograph of Bloomberg announcing new deputy mayor for economic development, Robert Steel (NYC Mayor's Office)

After the NY Times reported on the apparent lack of diversity among Mayor Bloomberg's senior City Hall staffer, the City Council may be taking a look. According to the Times, "The New York City Council is considering holding oversight hearings into racial and gender diversity at the top levels of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration, according to council members."

Councilwoman Deborah Rose (D-SI) told the Times, "Having recently brought in three out-of-town, white males as deputy mayors, the mayor has once again shown an indifference to living up to his own vows to bring diversity to his administration. In 2010, we must do more to ensure greater opportunities for all citizens." Those three recent deputy mayor hires were political consultant Howard Wolfson (Deputy Mayor For Government Affairs), former Indianapolis mayor Stephen Goldsmith (Deputy Mayor for Operations) and former Treasury official and Goldman Sachs executive Robert Steel (Deputy Mayor for Economic Development); they all replaced white, male staffers.

Former Council member and current City Comptroller John Liu weighed in, "In a city of 8.4 million people, at some point the law of large numbers kicks in, and it’s just not legitimate to say, ‘Oh, this is only on the merits,’ because it somehow implies that there’s a lack of skill or talent in certain communities, and that is just absolutely not true and unacceptable. Nobody is talking about political correctness; this is about looking for skills and talent everywhere in the city and not limiting the places you go to look for this talent."

But former Mayor Ed Koch was sympathetic, "You say to yourself, as I know Bloomberg does, that the first thing I want to do, particularly in difficult times, is to get the best people who can do a good job, irrespective of whether they are green, white, Hispanic or Asian." And former Dinkins-era commissioner Kenneth Knuckles says he's given been given hiring advice to Bloomberg officials, "You have to look long and hard — it’s not as easy as one would think to find highly qualified minority candidates I think they want to do it, but obviously they haven’t gone far enough."

Today, City Room reports, "A reporter for The Times who on Wednesday attended Mr. Bloomberg’s first public event since the article was published was not selected by the mayor to ask a question, even though the reporter was sitting in the center of the front row and even though the mayor’s staff knew that diversity would be the topic."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on June 30, 2010 5:38 PM

Comments [rss]

LB

Leave Bloomy alone . So He Likes his dick, Old, wrinkled, and limp . I wonder what you all would say if he hired all young, pretty things in their early twenties ! Then you'd -all be calling him "Mayor Nasty, Mayor Pimp," OR cheating on his wife with one of his hot, petite, flat-arsed Asian interns .

Armchair_warrior

The mayor like Jen likes her men white.

unretrofiedforu

lol: 'Stuff white people like: Asian girls"

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/20/11-asian-girls/?cp=654#comments

"White men love asian women so much that they will go to extremes such as stating that Sandra Oh is sexy, teaching English in Asia, playing in a coed volleyball league, or attending institutions such as UBC or UCLA"

m015094

Are we going to force the NBA to hire more white people because it doesn't represent the population? Oh wait, that'd be retarded.

JacqueMehoff

I don't understand what this has to do with anything because I see this analogy a lot.

especially when most bosses and the commissioner of the NBA are White people. and, I see a lot of white people in the stands and they play in white areas such as auburn hills or salt lake.

Gothamist_Cynic

Some white people will never get it.

inoyourider

That must be it!

It's because of my SKIN COLOR, that I'll never "get it" (racism).

Holy irony, Batman!

Thanks for the in-depth explanation.

JacqueMehoff

believe it or not, it is because of your skin color.

inoyourider

It's all in your mind.

Work hard and do your best.

Cherish your victories, own your losses.

No need to make your shortcomings someone else's prejudice.

inoyourider

Without the race card you have nothing.

There are statistics and quotes to back what I have to say up. They're in the source articles, not that you would read that far- you made up your mind with the headline.

All you have is the color of these three guys' skin.

Still waiting for someone to specify which of the three guys is unqualified?

inoyourider

It's so easy to play the race card and be done.

Much harder to look at any facts, reality, or reason.

JacqueMehoff

Political correct, schmolitical correct,

this is just the same story over and over again in this country. it's All about race, there's only one race that can't see it.

Italians were considered black, the Irish were considered Black and so on and so on.

too bad bloombag can't be President. I can die knowing that.

inoyourider

This IS all about political correctness.

Which one of those three is not qualified?

inoyourider

By the way Jen, hope you noticed your error that I pointed out in your version of this story yesterday (really like to push a theme don'tcha?) where you mistakenly copied and pasted from incorrectly from your source article, changing the meaning of the statement you were copying....this run-on sentence is in your honor.

Jen Chung

I did, thanks.

The story deserves attention because it's about our city government, not a private organization. In the ideal world, you would have well-qualified people that reflect the population helping make decisions for the population. I don't think anyone is saying the three recently appointed deputy mayors are unqualified and I think the other question is whether some very qualified minority candidates want to work in the public sector when they can potentially make more in private.

It's a complicated issue—and I thought Kenneth Knuckles' statement was interesting, "You have to look long and hard — it’s not as easy as one would think to find highly qualified minority candidates."

inoyourider

That is an interesting comment.

I also found the racial breakdown chart in the Times article to indicate the city's management is becoming more diverse, but systematic changes, and the talent pool at the top, doesn't change overnight.

JacqueMehoff

You are correct, jen.

this isn't about the NBA etc, it's about our city.

and about it's administration, what about the consultants hired by the DOE, or the City Time clock fiasco. if they're qualified why is there record homelessness?

It's all window dressing just like the employment channel. we know how to get a job for chrissakes. well, at least now we know how to get one in the bloombag administration.

inoyourider

That's weak reasoning.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Even though John Liu is a lying crook, I do agree 100% with his quote. in a population of millions and millions, Bloomberg and his asskisser want us to believe that is no ONE competent and bright minority nor woman. That is just insulting and racists.