Mayor Walsh’s hires haven’t reflected city’s diversity
Activists not ready to pass judgment
By Andrew Ryan | GLOBE STAFF FEBRUARY 21, 2014
Mayor Martin J. Walsh has repeatedly vowed to build an administration that reflects the diversity of Boston, a city in which people of color and women make up more than half the population.
But a Boston Globe analysis of city payroll records found that the Walsh administration’s first wave of new hires, which includes both Cabinet chiefs and junior aides, was overwhelmingly white and predominantly male. More than half of the 39 nonunion employees brought into the administration during the mayor’s first month in office live in Walsh’s political power base in Dorchester and South Boston. Almost all came from the ranks of Walsh’s campaign.
In an interview this week, Walsh strongly rejected any suggestion that he had fallen short on his commitment to diversity. He pointed to three people of color he tapped for prominent positions in his Cabinet; the other five permanent Cabinet appointments have been white. Walsh noted that after taking office, he immediately overhauled the top echelons of the Police Department, which now has its most diverse command staff in history.
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