I often chuckle when I hear White, Christian, Republican Men talk about diversity;
“Representation matters,†TenHaken said. “So, as this community gets more diverse in a variety of different ways, people need to see leadership positions filled by people of all different backgrounds so they can aspire to the same thing.â€
Five of the 12 people on his city executive team are either minority or female. TenHaken has directly hired four of those five individuals during his four years in office.
Ironically, I don’t think a single woman or minority has helped with Poops mayoral campaigns, except his wife. In fact his current campaign assistant used to be the Executive Director of the SD GOP.
What I find so ironic is that if you want to promote diversity in city leadership, you should vote for Paul’s opponent, an immigration attorney who is a Muslim female minority that has bi-racial children with her white husband. If anyone would promote diversity I think the choice is clear.
Paul’s talk about diversity is all smoke and mirrors. He knows his true supporters will NEVER vote for his opponent. In fact in the last election cycle when a minority was running for city council, the rumor was he got the door slammed in his face on several occasions. Paul has had several opportunities to promote minorities into leadership roles, and to his credit, he has, but NOT in key departments like public safety. The two fire chiefs and one police chief have all been white males and he has refused to do a national search only promoting from within leaving very little wiggle room for the diversification of these departments within their leadership. Poops had a great opportunity to find us a Police Chief with some diversity experience, but instead picked the guy with the best sideburns.
And let’s not forget his complete denial of the LGBTQ+ community existing in our city.
If you truly want diversity, don’t vote for Poops.