Best qualified trumps diversity.
Via BPR:
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is taking heat for allegedly telling staffers he would focus on “excellence” and finding the “best people” to work at the department, not “diversity.”
Zinke’s lack of concern over “diversity” at the Interior Department angered some staffers, who rushed to tell CNN. The news network on Monday ran with the chyron: “Zinke angers many by saying it’s more important to find best people; Dept denies.”
Each time Zinke was asked about diversity, he would respond, “what’s important is having the right person for the right job,” or “I care about excellence, and I’m going to get the best people, and you’ll find we have the most diverse group anyone’s ever had,” sources told CNN.
Zinke’s spokeswoman denied he made those comments, telling CNN “the anonymous claims made against the secretary are untrue.”
“As a woman who has worked for him for a number of years in senior positions, I say without a doubt this claim is untrue, and I am hopeful that they are a result of a misunderstanding and not a deliberate mistruth,” spokeswoman Heather Swift said.