The Equal Pay laws being dismissed by Republicans around the country don’t just apply to women. They also apply to minorities.
Republican AG Greg Abbott is running for governor of Texas, and he’s been making sweet talk to the ladies of Texas about how he totally loves equal pay for them, while at the same time refusing to say if he would actually support a law that allowed them to seek legal remedy if they were not being paid equally for the same work. The people had their suspicions, especially after Republican Governor Rick Perry vetoed the state Lilly Ledbetter Act that was passed by the Texas legislature (not exactly a bastion of progressive thought).
Finally Abbott was busted for paying the women in his Attorney General office less than men for the same work. Since he’s been running that office for 11 years, the policies are a pretty safe reflection of his values. So he had to admit that although he talked a good game, he really didn’t mean it when he whispered sweet promises of equal pay to get you ladies to lay down and vote for him. It was all a lie. He would also veto the equal pay law, just as Big Business required.
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Speaking of sweet empty promises, it turns out that in this same Attorney General’s office, Anglo assistant attorneys general earn “on average $77,740 in base salary, while minorities earn $72,214.” Maybe that doesn’t seem like a big deal unless you are the person earning less just because… SKIN COLOR. Furthermore, “The highest, best-paid classification of assistant attorney general is comprised almost exclusively Anglos: of the 21 members, just one is a minority.”
Nolan Hicks exposed this pay disparity in The San Antonio Express-News (subscription link):
Even as Texas grows increasingly diverse, Anglos continue to vastly outnumber minorities in key positions and earn more salary in the Texas attorney general’s office.
Anglo assistant attorneys general outnumber their minority counterparts by more than 3-1, an analysis by the San Antonio Express-News of payroll data from the attorney general’s office shows.
Additionally, they earn more than $5,500 more in base salary, on average, than do minority assistant attorneys general.
A spokesperson for Abbott’s AG office tried to rescue him from today’s truth by declaring that while the numbers tell another story, she’d like you to believe that these salary decisions are based on each person (the logical and only conclusion from this statement is that minorities on average somehow lack things that Anglos have, other than the color of their skin). Lauren Bean huffed in a statement noted by The San Antonio Express-News, “Salary decisions are based on each individual attorney’s experience and qualifications – any assertion otherwise is baseless and irresponsible.”
Yes, hush up you baseless and irresponsible people noting statistical averages and asking questions! The Texas Republican finds your questions baseless and irresponsible. So there.
Now we just wait for the other shoe to drop on Abbott’s fantasy world, which clearly does not include women or minorities. In Abbott’s world, no one ever asks him why his policies are a bend over for big business and benefit white men– a category he fits into.
If the office were run by a Hispanic woman who paid other Hispanic women higher than white men with the same qualifications, Fox News would be running an endless scream fest about how white men are being targeted in Texas. But since it’s just minorities and women, who are supposed to know where they belong, well, this questioning is “irresponsible”. Only white men have the privilege of outrage, apparently, and indeed of questioning the practices and policies of say the IRS, for example.
I give you the shrinking Republican tent that may turn Texas blue one day in the not too distant future.
The question is really if Republicans like Greg Abbott aren’t discriminating in their own Attorney General’s office, then what do they have against allowing a minority or a woman the right to seek legal remedy longer than 180 days after their first paycheck? Greg Abbott should borrow a line from Cheryl Crow for his rallies, “Lie to me, I promise I’ll believe.”
Republicans keep saying they love women and minorities, but yet their policies and laws benefit big business and hurt women and minorities. They love us, but not in public/policy.
This might explain why Democratic opponent State Senator Wendy Davis is surging from her double digit lag to a single digit lag. Greg Abbott better get it together and soon.
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