More Rath
July 11th, 2007 at 6:31 am
Here’s a little more insight into working with Diane Rath, who chairs the Texas Workforce Commission and who President Bush just nominated for a high-level job at the Dept. of Health and Human Services. After reading the news of Rath’s appointment, the Texas AFL-CIO newsletter noted:
The beef that working people have had with [Rath] is that she was basically an employer representative taking what is intended to be a more neutral position as the public’s representative. As such, the Workforce Commission has almost always voted 2-1 against the position of the employee representatives … on disputed matters involving unemployment benefits and job training since the inception of the agency in 1995. The business reps, starting with current Texas Association of Business head Bill Hammond, have always voted, as expected, with the employer positions.
That track record doesn’t speak to a strong history of advocating for the people she should be serving. Nor does it reveal much expertise in her new field: At her pending job with Health and Human Services she would oversee programs like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Head Start, and Medicaid health care for children. But instead of nominating someone with more specific experience in a field, Bush seems to think every qualified leader of the Republican party has to come from a business background. Because the “CEO President” has been working out so well.
