Senators Are Asked to Block Bush's EEOC Nominee
By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers
Monday 23 July 2007
Washington - President Bush's nominee to serve on the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission was himself the subject of at least
one complaint of employee abuse in his supervisory role at the
Justice Department, eight former department civil rights employees
charged Monday.
In a letter asking key senators to block the nomination, the
former employees also charged that David Palmer's work in the
department's employment litigation section was of poor quality and
that he was reprimanded for one performance lapse.
The former employees, including three ex-deputy chiefs of the
section, charged that Palmer's "work performance was well below the
high standards expected of Department of Justice attorneys."
They said that, as section chief since 2002, Palmer undermined
the unit's mission of securing the employment rights of women and
minorities in the public sector, while defending employers' rights to
discriminate based on religion.
Palmer was away from the office this week and couldn't be reached
for comment.
But White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said that during
almost two decades as a Justice Department employee, Palmer "has been
widely respected as a knowledgeable attorney who possesses a strong
work ethic and sincere commitment to equal justice for all Americans."
The former employees' letter to Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of
Massachusetts, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions, and ranking Republican Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming
didn't specify the circumstances of Palmer's alleged employee abuse.
But it accused Palmer of treating many employees "with disdain and
contempt."
Marian Thompson, who worked in the section for 18 years as a
statistician, said that after becoming section chief in 2002, Palmer
fired a veteran attorney with whom he had had a romantic relationship
and that the woman filed a complaint against him. In a phone
interview, Thompson expressed surprise that Palmer did not let
someone else handle that personnel decision.
Richard Ugelow, a former section chief who teaches employment law
at American University, said that it was "unheard of for the head of
an agency charged with enforcing equal employment opportunity laws to
be charged with violating those laws.... He's supposed to be above
reproach, to set an example for other employers."
Thompson said Palmer told her after taking over as chief that it
was "ironic" that he was now supervising the lawyer who had
reprimanded him for an omission in a discrimination case.
A Justice Department official, who declined to be identified on a
personnel matter, said that under Palmer's stewardship, the
employment litigation section's record has been "comparable to that
of the previous administration." The official cited a recent suit
against the city of New York that charged that its fire department,
the nation's largest, uses a hiring examination that discriminates
against African-Americans and Hispanics.
Bush announced Palmer's nomination last September and renominated
him in January. Republicans have turned up the pressure by
threatening to pair Palmer's nomination with the nomination of
Democrat Stuart Ishimaru for a second five-year term. Ishimaru's term
expired on July 1, leaving only one Democrat on the panel.
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/072607LA.shtml
--
get real. like jesus would ever own a gun or vote republican.
.
|
