PITTSBURGH Critics: Panel lacks diverse perspective

The governor created the panel Feb. 10.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The appointment of all white men to a five-member state panel charged with steering Pittsburgh out of financial ruin not only fails to provide fair representation, it gives the impression the city is living in the past, critics charged.
Despite calls for diversity, none of the members of the oversight board that will try to help Pittsburgh toward fiscal recovery is a woman or minority.
"It shows you we really are not a contemporary community in terms of the way the rest of the world is moving," said Carl G. Cooper, chief diversity officer for the law firm Kirkpatrick and Lockhart. "Shame on them. I'm embarrassed for them."
Gov. Ed Rendell signed the law creating the authority Feb. 10 to approve annual city budgets, develop a five-year fiscal recovery plan and recommend to the state Legislature whether the city needs new revenue sources.
Perspective issue
Without women or minorities, the board lacks perspective on issues ranging from health care to public transportation, said James Stewart, a professor of labor studies and industrial relations at Penn State-McKeesport.
"People with diverse backgrounds bring unique perspectives to decision-making," Stewart said.
City Councilman Sala Udin noted that women make up 53 percent of the city's population and minorities make up 27 percent. He is asking the Legislature to add four more seats for better representation.
Carol Stabile, director of the women's studies program at the University of Pittsburgh, said the appointments weren't surprising because there are not enough women or minorities in high-powered or policy-making positions.
While women and minorities are hired at the same rate as white men, Stabile said, they are not promoted at the same rate.
Experience
Each of the men chosen for the oversight board has business and financial experience. Board members are John Murray, the former president of Duquesne University; Jim Smith, a municipal bond underwriter and certified public accountant; Jim Roddey, a former Allegheny County chief executive; David O'Loughlin, president of the United States Maglev Development Corp.; and Bill Lieberman, a Pittsburgh businessman.
Roddey, however, said he would make sure that the input of women and minorities is considered, and that both would be included on a seven-person advisory board working under the oversight panel.