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Madigan’s staff challenges report on gender diversity

Statement from Chief of Staff Jessica Basham on Gender Diversity Statistics

Jessica Basham, chief of staff for the Office of the Speaker, released the following statement Tuesday on diversity and the hiring of women:

“While recent reporting by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform recognizes the importance of fair gender representation on our legislative staffs, the findings do not accurately reflect the gender diversity of the Office of the Speaker. A thorough review of all Speaker’s Office employees shows that as of the last legislative session 54 percent of employees are female, including many in key policy analyst positions.

“Employing a diverse staff is a key focus for the Speaker’s Office as we continuously review our personnel practices. One of the roles of the office’s new human resources department will be actively recruiting applicants from under-represented groups for employment opportunities. We believe that having staff members with diverse backgrounds and perspectives can only improve the development of policy initiatives of the House Democratic Caucus.”

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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