PETE BUTTIGIEG TO BE FIRST OPENLY GAY MEMBER OF BIDEN CABINET

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U.S. Politics – December 15, 2020

TrueNewsBlog – TNB

(TrueNewsBlog) PETE BUTTIGIEG finally has a spot in the Cabinet. Biden will nominate his former primary rival as Transportation secretary, according to three people familiar with the decision. 

If confirmed, BUTTIGIEG will be the first openly gay Cabinet secretary, a fact that had LGBTQ groups cheering the selection on Tuesday.

As the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., Buttigieg’s transportation policy experience is limited, however, particularly compared to others considered for the post, such as DAVID KIM , the head of the California State Transportation Agency. South Bend Transpo, the local transit agency, has a fleet of 60 buses and has seen sinking ridership in the last few years. There’s an international airport near South Bend, but it’s run by the county.

Black Lives Matter chapters and other activists of color urged Biden this afternoon not to select Buttigieg or three others for his Cabinet whom they said had a poor record of working with communities of color and don’t deserve to run major federal agencies: former Chicago Mayor RAHM EMANUEL, Rhode Island Gov. GINA RAIMONDO and Los Angeles Mayor ERIC GARCETTI, ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN reports.

The groups held a press call less than two hours before news broke that Biden planned to nominate Buttigieg as Transportation secretary. Among those who spoke out against Buttigieg were two Black community leaders from South Bend, Ind., Councilman HENRY DAVIS JR. and local Black Lives Matter leader JORDEN GIGER, who had criticized Buttigieg’s record during the primary. 

How much of that criticism have to do with this sexual orientation is hard to know, but as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, he had not done much to better race relations in his city.–