Wow.
[I]t is disconcerting -- in 2011 -- to look at a composite of the 20 permanent state agency heads whom Kasich has hired so far and see only white faces and barely a handful of women.
The new governor claims to be unfazed by this. He says he did not intend to appoint an all-white group -- and there is absolutely nothing in his background to suggest otherwise. Kasich tells Plain Dealer Columbus Bureau Chief Reginald Fields that he simply set out to find "the best possible team I can get, and hopefully we will be in a position that we are fully diverse as we go forward."
Given Ohio's many problems, Kasich says, it was far more important to make the right hires out of the gate than "to find somebody to fit this metric."
Still, Ohioans have to wonder just how widely Kasich and his transition team cast their nets to reel in the catch they did. The last Ohio governor with an all-white Cabinet was Mike DiSalle; he left office in 1963, when Kasich was 10 years old.
Kasich is up to 22 appointees -- 17 male, 5 female, and still lily white, which fails to reflect the diversity of his state or America in our supposed post-racial society. It has nothing to do with race, of course. Just that white men are that much superior to women and brown people. But while some people kvetch, I'm sure it makes his fellow Republicans happy. Like Maine Gov. Paul LePage:
While attending a meeting for business leaders in Sanford, Governor Paul LePage spoke out about why he would not attend Martin Luther King ceremonies on the upcoming holiday.
LePage has declined invitations from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The organization has already expressed its displeasure with the governor's plans to not attend the events.
"They are a special interest. End of story...and I'm not going to be held hostage by special interests. And if they want, they can look at my family picture. My son happens to be black, so they can do whatever they'd like about it," said LePage.
LePage has an adopted son who is from Jamaica.
When a reporter from another television station asked LePage if his non-participation is more than one instance, and rather a pattern, he replied, "Tell 'em to kiss my butt. If they want to play the race card, come to dinner and my son will talk to them."
For a teabagger governor fond of ranting about "freedom", it's worth noting just what "freedoms" his adopted son would have in entire regions of this country if it weren't for Dr. Martin Luther King. And then perhaps he'd offer a little more respect.