US News
Democrats claim Bush favours white males for political appointments
By DPA
May 2, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - President George W. Bush has added hundreds of new political appointees to the federal payroll, but has reduced the percentage of minorities and women named to the jobs, a report released by opposition Democrats Tuesday showed.

Bush, who ran for office as an opponent of \'big government,\' has added 300 new political appointees to the payrolls in his first five years in the White House.

But only 13 per cent of them are members of a racial minority, a 50 per cent drop from the makeup of political appointees during the Bill Clinton administration, according to the report, which was made public by Democrats in the US House of Representatives.

\'No one expected a Republican administration to have as many African American political appointees as the Clinton administration, but a cascade of blacks by almost 70 per cent, despite the increase in political appointed jobs, amounts to the politics of exclusion,\' said Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton.

At the same time, the proportion of female political appointees fell to 39 per cent from 45 per cent under Clinton.

\'By reducing the number of qualified minorities and women who serve as political appointees, President Bush is distancing himself from creating a government that is \'of the people, by the people, for the people\',\' said Representative Elijah Cummings.

The Democrats also alleged that many of Bush political appointees have \'suspect\' qualifications for the post that they are asked to fill.

\'The Bush Administration has consistently chosen political cronies over competence,\' said Representative Chris Van Hollen. \'They have placed political pals and contributors in critical positions of responsibility at the expense of competence and expertise.\'