Mar 12, 2013 - Impending Nomination of Thomas Perez As Secretary of Labor Welcomed by National Latino Leaders, Swift Confirmation Urged

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION March 12, 2013

Official Department Justice photo of Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez. Source: http://justice.gov/crt/aag. Impending Nomination of Thomas Perez As Secretary of Labor Welcomed by National Latino Leaders, Swift Confirmation Urged As Assistant Attorney General

Perez Leads the Civil Rights Division as a Pragmatic Consensus Builder, Defender of America's Most Vulnerable Populations

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In response to reports that the Department of Justice's Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez may be nominated by President Barack Obama to be the Secretary of Labor, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) issued the following statement strongly supporting the nomination. NHLA is a coalition of thirty of the nation's leading Hispanic organizations and has been active in calling for the inclusion of Latino appointees in the Cabinet and in positions across the federal government.

Hector E. Sanchez, Chair of NHLA and Executive Director of LCLAA, stated:

"Thomas Perez has distinguished himself as a pragmatic problem solver with an extensive record of defending our country's most vulnerable communities. He would make an outstanding Labor Secretary and we urge the Senate, when his nomination is received, to promptly confirm him.

"Perez's impressive career of public service spans the local, state, and federal levels. In all of the prestigious positions he has held, which include the Secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Montgomery County Council Member, Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights,and Special Counsel to the late Senator Edward Kennedy, Perez worked with both business and labor, Republicans and Democrats, to achieve results in advancing the civil rights of vulnerable populations. His track record of effective governing will serve him, and our nation, well as Labor Secretary.

"His accomplishments in leading the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division include settling several of the largest fair-lending cases in the department's history, securing the largest-ever disability-based housing discrimination settlement, and successfully reaching a settlement to prevent discrimination in school enrollment and student discipline.

"As Assistant Attorney General, Perez has become known for building consensus on issues from supporting military families and defending the disabled to prosecuting hate crimes and protecting voting rights."

NHLA’s advocacy work in calling for the increased representation of Latinos in the federal government stems from the fact that while Latinos are nearly 17 percent of the U.S. population, they are just 8 percent of the federal career workforce and as little as 3 percent of the employees in some federal agencies (per the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Eleventh Annual Report on Hispanic Employment in the Federal Government). NHLA's preliminary analysis of the nearly 4,000 political positions listed in the 2012 Plum Book suggests Latinos may be as little as 7 percent of the current presidential appointees.

Over the past several months, NHLA has urged the President to appoint Latinos to at least three of his 22 Cabinet-level positions in order to more fairly align with the community's proportion of the population. The President's remaining Cabinet-level vacancies left to be named include the positions of the Secretary for the Department of Commerce, Secretary of the Department of Transportation; the United States Trade Representative; and the Small Business Administrator.

Established in 1991, The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) brings together Hispanic leaders to establish policy priorities that address, and raise public awareness of the major issues affecting the Latino community and the nation as a whole. For more information, please visit www.nationalhispanicleadership.org

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