As corporations are waking up and ditching DIE*, our own buffoon is going whole hog in the other direction
/
take an axe to the budget? Not when there are neighbors’ trees to molest!
Governor Lamont Establishes New State Office: CT Office of Equity & Opportunity
Governor Ned Lamont on Tuesday announced that he has signed an executive order directing the establishment of the CT Office of Equity and Opportunity – a new state office that will be responsible for leading Connecticut’s efforts to ensure that state government is a leader in equity and inclusion with the goals of eliminating institutional and systemic barriers and creating opportunity and access for all those it serves and employs.
Administratively held within the Office of the Governor and funded through existing appropriations, the Office of Equity and Opportunity will be led by a chief equity and opportunity officer who will be appointed by the governor and responsible for coordinating a number of activities prescribed in the executive order related to ensuring that state government offices are representative of the people they serve and that people from different racial, ethnic, gender, geographic, and socioeconomic backgrounds have a voice in the decision-making processes concerning the policies and practices of state government.
[Blah blah blah} …. By doing everything we can to create a fair, equitable, and inclusive environment representative of the people who live in our state, we can address historical and ongoing disparities and promote social justice.”
The executive order directs the chief equity and opportunity officer to:
Serve as the coordinator of the state’s diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy;
Support equity-oriented efforts throughout the state to ensure services and resources are available and accessible to all in Connecticut;
Conduct comprehensive assessments of current and proposed policies and practices of state agencies to identify areas where disparities exist, and where underserved communities may face barriers to accessing services;
Develop a formal process for the development and implementation of agency equity plans;
Coordinate the publication of agency equity plans on a centralized and easily accessible website;
Develop equity-oriented systems, policies, and procedures that operationalize diversity, equity, inclusion and support sustainable practices within state agencies;
Identify diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings opportunities for all state employees;
Develop statewide diversity, equity, and inclusion benchmarks and measures of progress;
Oversee and provide guidance to state agencies on how to engage and incorporate the perspectives of underserved communities;
Partner with state agencies to ensure communications with residents are culturally and linguistically appropriate and accessible;
Integrate equity considerations into the budget process and assess the impact of budget decisions; and
Provide strategies to promote equitable contracting and purchasing practices.
Additionally, the executive order directs all state employees to participate in trainings [sic] focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion as coordinated by the chief equity and opportunity officer. It also directs all state agencies to develop an agency equity plan with the assistance of the chief equity and opportunity officer.
So millions of dollars diverted from, say, infrastructure maintenance, dozens — hundreds? — of new state union employees added to the taxpayers’ burden, and thousands of state workers wasting hours (assuming they would otherwise be engaged in constructive activities, to believe in which would represent a triumph of hope over experience) spent in diversity classes learning that they’re racists. This will improve state government, how?
*John Deere Writes “Dear John” Letter to DEI.
John Hineraker, Powerline: I guess John Deere decided it can’t let Tractor Supply outflank them when it comes to respecting the values of its customer base, and today John Deere released a ‘Dear John’ letter to DEI nonsense (though you have to read between the lines a bit to see that’s what’s happening):
Equally notable today is that Microsoft is apparently disbanding its entire DEI apparatus:
Microsoft recently laid off its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) team. According to an internal email sent by the team’s leader first spotted by Business Insider, the former team lead indicated the department was disbanded due to “changing business needs.”
In the email, the former team lead further accused Microsoft’s top management of “investigated and evidenced discrimination, harassment, and toxicity.” The email also details the DEI’s efforts at Microsoft which help move “impossible mountains” and foster “brilliant, ethical, and world-class strategists at the company, helping to make the world a better place.”
When progressive Microsoft throws DEI under the bus, you know that a preference cascade is building in corporate America to get rid of this insidious nonsense. More and more corporations are going to decide that they don’t want to be outliers facing the wrath of customers and shareholders for coddling this divisive and expensive elite luxury belief.
