* A press release from yesterday…
Today, MALDEF announced the favorable outcome from a lawsuit it filed against Illinois Governor, Bruce Rauner, in April, seeking enforcement of the Illinois Gubernatorial Boards and Commissions Act (”The Act”). The Act requires Governor Rauner to publish information about the ethnicity, gender and disability status of applicants and appointees to state boards and commissions. As of April, the governor had failed to publish his first report, even though he was required to do so six months earlier. Three months after the suit was filed, the governor has complied with the Act’s requirements.
* From the newly released data…
* An important caveat from the Rauner administration…
Because we were left with incomplete records and information related to appointments by the prior administration, we are unable to provide data related to the appointments made by Governor Quinn from July 1, 2014 to January 11, 2015.
* Now, on to the applicants for appointments…
From January 12, 2015 to June 30, 2015, our administration received 692 applications from individuals wishing to be considered for appointment to a State board, commission, or task force.
In compliance with the Act, such application is available online and includes “a data field where an applicant shall disclose his or her ethnicity, gender, or disability status for reporting purposes.” We have compiled the demographic information from all applicants that have disclosed demographic information on their application. The demographic breakdown of those applicants is as follows
* The chart…
So, there was a slightly higher percentage of white, male applicants who were eventually appointed vs. those who applied.
- Henry Francis - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 10:45 am:
Certainly more diverse than any of the Guv’s private enterprises like GTCR
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 10:46 am:
It’s Pat Quinn’s fault who Bruce Rauner himself appoints…
Or are the Superstars using a crutch to hide what appointees they are willing to claim and ones they want to “blame” on Quinn.
That’s fun.
- Thoughts Matter - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 10:50 am:
So if I am looking at the chart correctly- every male that was appointed was white, every female that was appointed minority? Or does it just look that way?
- Precinct Captain - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 10:51 am:
Is this a surprise? Rauner is the king of “zero” after all.
- Shemp - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:01 am:
White alone, percent, July 1, 2015, (V2015) (a)
77.3% -http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/17
It appears Rauner is under-representing whites in his appointments.
- steve schnorf - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:01 am:
It really looks fairly balanced to me except M-F. Comparisons to raw population numbers are suspect to me. The comparison should be to number or percent of appointable people. To most boards and commissions youth under 18 are not appointable, for example.On others specific credentials are required, such as teacher, pharmacist, pension annuitant and so forth.
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:03 am:
Weak response from the shoes on Quinn’s appointment record. Surely there are more than just that 6 months of data for Quinn. Are they ignoring that, or just too “busy” to look it up?
- Name/Nickname/Anon - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:07 am:
==White alone, percent, July 1, 2015, (V2015) (a) 77.3% http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/17
It appears Rauner is under-representing whites in his appointments.==
If you scroll down, you’ll see “White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, July 1, 2015, (V2015) 61.9%”
- Mama - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:07 am:
Rich, I’m a bit unclear on this one.
Did no people with disabilities apply for employment with the state, or did they apply but not hired? Thanks
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:07 am:
Supes not shoes.
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:14 am:
And, before a supe can protest that the reporting feature wasn’t codified into The Act until the end of 2015, the data still exists. Maybe Quinn’s diversity numbers were better than Rauner’s, maybe not. Regardless, I’m sure some enterprising student or reporter will do the deep dig to find out. And if they were, I expect a good word salad with a dressing up to follow from ck and company.
- Matt Vernau - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:20 am:
I too am confused. Are we supposed to hire to match statistics or trying to find the best match for a job? I agree that what looks out of sync is the Male / female split. Maybe the really smart girls are not wanting on Rauner’s team.
- Joe M - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:21 am:
At least his appointees are more diverse than the Illinois GOP members in the General Assembly. When the GOP members gather and stand behind Rauner at those press conferences in the capitol, it always looks to be 100% white - and not any resemblance to the Illinois I see on a day to day basis.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:25 am:
Meh. To the victor go the spoils. He’s complied with the act. The demographic look OK. He wasn’t going to win any diversity awards anyway, but he appears to be selecting a fairly diverse group of appointees.
I’ll be the first to criticize him for just about anything. I can’t find much here to complain about though.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:26 am:
The data on Quinn appointees should be readily available from SOS Index. Perhaps the Superstars don’t want to look for the information out of fear it doesn’t look good. Or perhaps they’re too busy campaigning.
- Soccermom - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:27 am:
There’s a stat we’re not seeing here — 75 out of 220 female applicants were hired, as opposed to 222 of 467 male applicants. So a woman had a 1 in 3 chance of being hired, while a man had a 1 in 2 chance (roughly)
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:28 am:
My comment…
===It’s Pat Quinn’s fault who Bruce Rauner himself appoints…
Or are the Superstars using a crutch to hide what appointees they are willing to claim and ones they want to “blame” on Quinn.
That’s fun.===
My point?
Same as - 47th Ward -
To the victor go the spoils, just “own” it.
Don’t dilute. The Governor appointees are the governor’s. Rauner won.
Just… don’t give me this “Quinn”… baloney.
Rauner is the governor. That’s how it works.
- NoGifts - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:28 am:
It would be more helpful presented in cross-tab form showing male and female in each category.
- steve schnorf - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:31 am:
Mom, all of this regarding applicants is based on an unlikely premise, that all of the applicants met the qualification for appointment to that particular B or C
- here we go - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:32 am:
The interesting thing here is who MALDEF’s plaintiff was.
Per the data, the biggest discrepancy here is the under representation of Latinos. I’m not 100% sure what to make of it. But considering that there is a gap overall of Latinos in state government, it’s not that alarming.
- Federalist - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:36 am:
Much to do about nothing and I don’t even like the guy!
- Ghost - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:37 am:
68% white males apply but 75% get appointed. these “slight” benefits to white males show the problem. thos “slight” shifts in favor of white males add up over time.
also what did the gov donto recruit minority applicants into the pool? a secondary problem is minorities look at jobs like this as being a white mans club and so dont bother applying. so you use a depressed application base, no recruitment, and then stull increase the total number of appointees to favor white males. This is a problem, and not a slight one.
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:45 am:
Well said as always, Steve.
I don’t know if Hispanics are underrepresented in terms of population, but in terms of these appointments, more Hispanics were appointed as a percentage of applicants than any other comparable group.
- walker - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:49 am:
Not much to see here. Political affiliation, while not part of the administration’s selection process, did probably skew the applicant pool to some extent.
- @MisterJayEm - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:50 am:
“It really looks fairly balanced to me except M-F.”
So except for half of the population…
– MrJM
- A guy - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:55 am:
JM, not an excuse, but male applicants are more than double the female applicants. It seems to me that the application process itself could use some attention to encourage more women and minorities to apply for these positions. A larger pool would benefit everyone.
- GetOverIt - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 11:58 am:
“It really looks fairly balanced to me except M-F.”
And 5.6% for Hispanics is “balanced”? Try again. Also, the “qualified applicant” assertion is meaningless and must be qualified, i.e. it’s not about ability or training, but party allegiance.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 12:00 pm:
Why would Quinn’s data be relevant? So the Raunerites can say “but Quinn!”.
Move forward. Do a better job of seeking female and minority candidates. That part of good recruiting. Improve on these numbers every year and you have done “something”.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 12:03 pm:
It’s no secret minorities are more likely to identify as Democratic. So the minorities Republicans can recruit tend to be more of a Clarence Thomas caliber.
- steve schnorf - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 12:05 pm:
GetOverIt, BS. Many B and Cs prohibit the number of appointees from any one political party, so there’s a pretty good chance that a significant portion of his appointees are either Ds or Is. BTW, why is qualification “meaningless”?
- AlfondoGonz - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 12:06 pm:
Let’s not forget he forced John Anthony out.
- steve schnorf - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 12:07 pm:
anon 12:03, so Reverend Meeks is a Clarence Thomas? I think not.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 12:13 pm:
Yeah, Thomas is better. At least he doesn’t announce that he hates gays.
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 12:33 pm:
JS Mill: JS Mill - “Why would Quinn’s data be relevant? So the Raunerites can say “but Quinn!”.”
*****
The data is relevant to see how, over time, any Governor’s appointments are tracking. If Quinn’s record improved on past Governors’, does Rauner’s continue the improvement in diversity, or is the State going losing ground in diversity? If Quinn’s numbers were worse than Rauner’s, I would think Rauner and Company would want to crow about that accomplishment. Instead, they continue to hide behind “Because Quinn”.
- Mcleaniac - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 12:44 pm:
Rauner forgot many people that really WORKED HARD for him during the primary - from the start - held and organized events, donated, organized precincts etc even in the face of other candidates that live in and represent that area. They faced the heat from the local GOP for supporting Rauner over the local guy - and in the end did not even get a REPLY or acknowledgement from Rauner or any of his staff after applying for state boards and commissions. Im talking about people that are qualified in their respective fields and have been active in the GOP - they will not make the same mistake twice I have been told.
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 1:08 pm:
Get over it, do the math. Hispanics may have been only 5.6% of the total appointees, but of the applicants, 64% of the Hispanics who applied were appointed. That’s the highest “success ratio” by a fair margin of any group.
- crazybleedingheart - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 3:43 pm:
My 3:18 comment does not appear.
- Veil of Ignorance - Wednesday, Aug 3, 16 @ 5:03 pm:
No matter what the excuse, it’s not a good look politically and regardless of what previous Governors did it can be agreed that more diversity can help these bodies benefit from a wider set of perspectives and experiences.