{"id":2446,"date":"2023-04-27T19:32:34","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T19:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=2446"},"modified":"2023-04-27T20:13:01","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T20:13:01","slug":"gov-evers-wide-world-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=2446","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Evers\u2019 wide world of diversity, equity and inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/gov-evers-wide-world-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Republicans vow to strip DEI officers from budget proposal<\/em><\/h5>\n

Tucked away in Gov. Tony Evers\u2019 proposed budget is nearly $3 million for a new cabinet-level chief equity officer and 18 new equity officers assigned throughout state government departments and agencies.<\/p>\n

According to the governor\u2019s job descriptions, the chief equity officer would \u201ccollaborate\u201d with the 18 department- and agency-level equity officers \u201cto identify opportunities to advance equity in government operations, including determining how current government practices and policies impact communities of color and individuals with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Wooden<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Ten of the equity officers would be full-time, starting at $75,500 in the first year, with a 28% raise to $96,980 in the second year the ensuing year. The other eight are half-time jobs.<\/p>\n

In all, the governor is asking for roughly $1.3 million in the first year and 25.2% more \u2014 or $1.66 million \u2014 in the second year.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s request comes at a time when diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs are under fire in higher education, business and in government for fundamental unfairness and divisiveness and a failure to achieve their intended goals.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Funding will be denied<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Republican lawmakers in the legislative majority say they will strip the positions from the proposed budget, just as they eliminated a proposed cabinet-level chief equity officer before passing the current budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvers\u2019 initiatives to expand diversity, equity and inclusion will be removed from the budget \u2014 again,\u201d state Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) said in a written statement to the Badger Institute.<\/p>\n

Stroebel, vice-chair of both the Senate Committee on Finance and the Joint Committee on Finance (JCF), the state\u2019s powerful budget-writing committee said, \u201cDEI almost seems like a new secular religion for the left. I see no benefit to hiring government workers so we can further make government interpret the world through a lens that both de-emphasizes the individual and divides Wisconsinites into groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Republican colleagues and I will continue our efforts to still fund essential government services while curtailing the litany of ways Evers hopes to grow government.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) told the Badger institute that about 80% of his constituents would say the proposed positions are \u201ckind of stupid and a waste of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that DEI stands for Division Ensuring Instability,\u201d Kapenga says. \u201cBy creating equity officer positions, it shows that the governor is more focused on dividing, than enforcing what\u2019s already there. Our constitution, laws and system of enforcement already ensure the equality of every individual, so he\u2019s just focusing on division. It\u2019s the Marxist philosophy \u2014 divide and conquer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not just race<\/strong><\/h4>\n

During a March 30 budget-review session in Madison, Joint Finance Committee member, state Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay) grilled Dan Hereth, secretary of the Department of Safety and Professional Services, about the need for $85,900 to fund a half-time equity office for two years.<\/p>\n

Wimberger asked which race, age, gender or ability in his department has more than they should have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody is insinuating that anybody has more than what they should have,\u201d Hereth told Wimberger. \u201cThen why try to make it equitable?\u201d Wimberger responded.<\/p>\n

Hereth told the committee, \u201cFor me, equity is not just race \u2014 I think that\u2019s the first thing that comes to mind for folks when you say that word. It\u2019s also age related. It\u2019s also gender related. It\u2019s also disability related.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think equity is about bringing perspective to the work that you do. It\u2019s the idea that we\u2019re out here as a regulator trying to equally enforce the laws across the state of Wisconsin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEquality is great,\u201d Wimberger told Hereth. \u201cIt\u2019s the equity that\u2019s the problem.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

DEI work started with advisory council<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h4>\n

In November 2019, Evers signed Executive Order 59<\/a>, which established a Bureau of Equity and Inclusion<\/a>, one of five bureaus within the state\u2019s Division of Personnel Management. Other than Director Laurice McGinnis Lincoln, the bureau\u2019s website does not include the number of state employees staffing the bureau. The bureau did not respond to an email asking for staffing and job descriptions.<\/p>\n

The bureau, the website says, is responsible for helping state agencies develop an equity and inclusion plan. The mission statements, like this one from the Department of Justice<\/a>\u00a0(DOJ), pledge \u201ccommitment to the principles of equity and inclusion for all employees and applicants without regard to an individual\u2019s race, color, gender identification, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or marital status.\u201d<\/p>\n

How those goals are to be met in practice are vague. Department officials did not respond to an email asking them to explain how its equity and inclusion plan has been implemented.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s order also created the Governor\u2019s Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council. The group is charged with advising Evers and other state executives \u201con statewide equity and inclusion, including ways to improve equity and inclusion for Wisconsinites across the state and in all sectors,\u201d according to the order.<\/p>\n

Evers didn\u2019t make appointments to the 30-member council until February 2021. The council held its first meeting that month. Since then, the members \u2014 all volunteers \u2014 have met nine times via remote videoconferencing.<\/p>\n

Based on the public record, it\u2019s difficult to know what the group has achieved or recommended thus far. It\u2019s not clear if the council recommended the governor add taxpayer-funded equity officers to his last two budgets.<\/p>\n

A cursory review of meeting minutes from the first six meetings didn\u2019t reveal anything about proposals to the governor. Minutes for the last three meetings dating back to August 2022 have not been posted on the council\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Despite the Evers administration\u2019s government transparency pledges, phone calls and emails to Laurice Lincoln, the director of the Division of Personnel Management\u2019s Bureau of Equity and Inclusion and the governor\u2019s liaison to the council, went unanswered. Mai Xiong, chair of the council and founder and head of the HMong American Leadership & Economic Development organization in Eau Claire and officials with the Department of Administration (DOA) also failed to respond to Badger Institute inquiries.<\/p>\n

There also is no official explanation in the budget for Evers\u2019 call to expand the Wisconsin Supplier Diversity Program to include certifying businesses owned by veterans, disabled persons, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered persons and to modify \u201crelated statutory purchasing goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, however, noted in its budget analysis<\/a> that the proposed expansion \u201cbetrays the government\u2019s fiduciary duty to taxpayers to manage funds responsibly\u201d because it \u201cconnects government services to such irrelevant factors as business owners\u2019 sexuality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Businesses backing away<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/h4>\n

The timing of the governor\u2019s DEI spending spree is striking in light of the backlash against diversity and inclusion programs by corporate America. Unlike government, businesses have begun pulling back on programs that cannot show an adequate return on investment during a pandemic-driven economic downturn, followed by more than a year of sustained inflation.<\/p>\n

Sparked by the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, corporate spending on DEI training and programs grew to an estimated $8 billion a year, according to the Harvard Business Review<\/a> and other sources.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s now changing. According to a LinkedIn report,<\/a> reviewing more than 500,000 C-suite hirings between 2019 and 2022, the number of chief diversity officers hired fell in 2022 after significant growth in 2020 and 2021. Diversity officers were the only executive-level positions that experienced hiring declines in 2022.<\/p>\n

Revelio Labs, analyzing employee layoffs at 600 large companies, including Amazon, Nike and Twitter, released a report<\/a>\u00a0that showed DEI-related positions were eliminated at a faster rate than non-DEI positions in 2021 and that the pace accelerated in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u2018Cultish behavior\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/h4>\n

Using taxpayers\u2019 dollars to fund programs and positions that do little to enhance minorities\u2019 opportunities isn\u2019t the answer, says Jonathan Butcher, an education fellow at the Heritage Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no reason for public dollars to be used to fund DEI programs,\u201d Butcher says. \u201cDEI initiatives deny access to the American dream . . . they tell minorities their ability to succeed is based on skin color \u2014 that they need government to adjust the scales in their favor because they\u2019re not good enough to do it on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, it\u2019s little more than promotion of a political orthodoxy that borders on cultish behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher says politicians like Evers should have to explain and demonstrate to taxpayers that DEI efforts will provide positive outcomes for minorities. That would be difficult to do, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no research that shows DEI initiatives achieve what they set out to do,\u201d he says. \u201cThe research we have \u2014 and it\u2019s quite substantial \u2014 shows that when people complete these programs, their attitudes and behaviors don\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our responsibility to bring back the color-blind society that the civil rights movement was striving to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam), who co-chairs the Assembly Joint Committee on Finance and is the Assembly co-chair of the JCF, told the Badger Institute Gov. Evers would be better served focusing on the \u201csubstantial problems\u201d that exist in our state agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans,\u201d Born says, \u201cwill focus on restoring core government services and won\u2019t fund frivolous new positions that have to be paid for by taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Wysocky is a Milwaukee-area freelance journalist and editor with more than 40 years of journalism experience.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The post Gov. Evers\u2019 wide world of diversity, equity and inclusion<\/a> appeared first on Badger Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/gov-evers-wide-world-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion\/ Republicans vow to strip DEI officers from budget proposal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":2448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-badger-institute"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2446"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2449,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446\/revisions\/2449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}