R RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR
OF NEW YORK CITY
■ AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: Supports affirmative
action but as mayor of New York City dismantled an affirmative-action program that steered
city contracts to minority-owned businesses.
( ontheissues.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm)
■ IMMIGRATION: Favored the U.S. Senate’s comprehensive immigration plan, which included a
path to citizenship and a guest-worker plan. As
mayor, continued a policy of preventing city
employees from contacting the Immigration and
Naturalization Service about immigration violations; also expressed doubt that the federal
government can stop undocumented immigration. ( ontheissues.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm)
■ GLBT ISSUES: Supports gay marriage; submitted a bill to New York City Council that
extended the benefits city agencies must grant
to gay and lesbian couples. Does not want to
repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” during a time of
war. ( ontheissues.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm)
■ EDUCATION: Wants to ease federal regulations of schools but has stopped short of criticizing No Child Left Behind.
( ontheissues.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm)
■ PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: Advocates
increased federal spending on special education for children with disabilities; improved
access to healthcare, employment and housing.
Supports fewer restrictions on federal funding
of embryonic-stem-cell research.
( ontheissues.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm)
■ HEALTHCARE: Says the nation’s current
healthcare system is imperfect, but a system
similar to those found in Europe and Canada is
not the way to go. Says improvements needs to
be based on private insurance and competition.
( ontheissues.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm)
R SEN. JOHN MCCAIN OF ARIZONA
■ IMMIGRATION: Supports guest-worker program, Social Security and path to citizenship for
undocumented workers; voted for hard-line
Immigration Reform Bill; supports temporary
visas for skilled workers.
( ontheissues.org/John_McCain.htm)
■ AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: Affirmative-action
skeptic; past supporter of non-quota-based federal affirmative-action programs.
( ontheissues.org/John_McCain.htm)
■ GLBT ISSUES: Voted against same-sex-marriage constitutional ban; voted against bills
to include orientation in hate-crimes list, prohibit workplace discrimination based on orientation; supports “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
( ontheissues.org/John_McCain.htm)
■ EDUCATION: Voted against federal funding
for after-school programs, local educational
member’s racial/ethnic identity. All candidates
received racial/ethnic demographic breakdowns
of their staff per our research, most recently during the last week of April. All five Democrats
confirmed or added to this data; none of the
three Republican candidates responded.
It can be challenging to diversify presidential campaign staffs, given the lack of a
pipeline of top talent of color in the pools
from which campaign staff members traditionally are recruited. “There’s a direct connect
between diversity and key staff in the Senate
and the House. We see chiefs of staff in the
Senate who will go out and run a state for
whoever the general election candidate is—
that’s not rare at all,” says Paul Thornell, vice
president of federal government affairs with
Citigroup, No. 22 in the Top 50.
“Senatorial staff has talent and [expertise in
building] strong relationships, but if there aren’t
any people of color in that senior role, then
those same opportunities are not going to be
there,” adds Thornell, who was deputy director
of legislative affairs to former Vice President Al
Gore from September 1998 to the end of the
Clinton administration. Thornell also worked
on Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign.
Many staffers also are hired from the
Democratic National Committee and the
Republican National Committee, both of
which declined to comment for this story.
“The DNC and RNC both operate job
banks, and it’s important for the parties as
well to recruit [talent of color],” says
Christie. “As much as we’d like to put the
onus on the candidate, both major political
parties have a strong responsibility to cultivate, train and promote candidates to fill the
positions on campaign staffs as well as on
legislative staffs.”
Candidates must look to alternative
sources, such as youth activists running campaigns on college campuses and to talent
outside the political realm, which traditional-
