Boise Mayor Lauren McLean Builds an Ultra-Woke Admin Team
Her administrative team is built to deliver the goods on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the second term.
Soon after Lauren McLean was elected mayor in 2019, she assembled a transition team to prepare report on “A More Equitable City for Everyone.” The transition team consisted of the woke left from around the city, the diversity advisor from Boise State (Francisco Salinas), an advisor from the Idaho Coalition against Sexual & Domestic Violence (Kelly Miller) and others.
The “Equitable City” report envisioned, as one analyst contended, Boise as the next Portland or San Francisco. Many aspects of the report dealt simply with the political response to the so-called pandemic of 2020 (i.e., prohibiting evictions, cancelation of rent and mortgages).
The key features involved transforming Boise into a city with diversity, equity and inclusion at the heart of its operations. The city would “create a network of multi-racial, multicultural community liaisons to provide ongoing leadership.” It would impose “racial equity, white fragility and implicit bias training or book readings” on city personnel who are not minorities themselves. Boise would become a sanctuary city for immigrants. Provide free health care for marginalized citizens. Hiring preferences for women and minorities. Housing first policies on homelessness. Free contraception and abortion. “Collaborate with the Boise School District to establish sex education at pre-K level – 12th.”
A firestorm arose when the report was leaked to the public. Mayor McLean said this report was just a report from one of “six different committees.” A city spokesperson said that the report contained “wishes of the community,” and those wishes “do not represent what the mayor is recommending at this time.” None of those were denials, of course. McLean might like the community's suggestions. She might recommend those things at another time.
But Mayor McLean has not been all that constrained in her first term—and she certainly will not be constrained in a second term if she is reelected. She has assembled a woke team of administrators who is pushing her agenda into the city’s several departments. In fact, the goals of the “Equitable City” report line up perfectly with Mayor McLean’s personnel.
Mayor McLean’s has staffed her city government with left-wing activists, pushing gayness, racial grievances, equity, and climate change. This week she helped push out former Police Chief Ryan Lee--a move that might be related to pushing her city government even more in the direction of wokeness. Here is a sampling of McLean's cabinet members.
Amber Beierle (Director of the Boise City Department of Arts & History) was initially hired to prioritize “beautiful and sustainable public art” and utilize grants to fund new initiatives. Such initiatives included a gay and lesbian chorus, refugee cultural festivals intended to cause a “cultural shock,” and a Museum of Broken Relationships.See update below.
Maria Weeg (Director of Community Engagement). Weeg, a former partner in Hilltop Public Solutions (a left-wing activist group), has years of experience in issue advocacy and campaign management (including work as Executive Director of the Democratic Party in Idaho and Arizona. Weeg focuses on local non-discrimination ordinances that protect the LGBTQIA+ community, preserving Boise’s Foothills and national wilderness areas, working to combat climate change, and increasing early education opportunities (i.e., sex education) for Idaho’s youngest children.
Sarah Borden (Director of Human Resources). A graduate of Cal-Berkeley, Borden is inspired to combat the great resignation with hybrid employment models and increased training.
Jessica Dorr (Boise Public Library Director). Dorr came to Boise after a stint at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she was involved with the Global Libraries project (computers in the classroom efforts). Her directorship has included the Boise library going fully into Pride month, extending it beyond the month of June. In fact, the library now boasts about its LGBT books depicting same-sex relationship between minors and other degeneracies.
Boise’s Planning and Development Services Director, Timothy Keane, an enemy of single-family housing, requires special attention in a future post, since his plans for Boise are more nefarious still.
Mayor McLean is gearing up to push more of her equitable city agenda in the future. And everyone should expect her to jump on whatever the latest thing is as well. She has the administration to promote every latest lefty thing.
Update: Amber Beierle has left the office and been replaced with Jennifer Stevens, an academic liberal.
See also
For McLean's embrace of leftist homeless policy
Boise's Approach to Homelessness Threatens the Whole Treasure Valley: Part 1
Homelessness Policy and the Threat to the Treasure Valley: Part 2
Mayor Lauren McLean Abets Homeless Empire: Part 3
Mayor McLean Finds Allies to Build a Homeless Empire: Part 4
Stopping McLean's Homeless Empire Means Reversing Course: Part 5
For McLean's embrace of abortion extremism
Mayor McLean, Boise City Council Make Boise a Sanctuary City for Abortion
For McLean's promoting the sexualization of children
The Problems with Boise Pride Fest: Degeneracy Turned up to Eleven!
Mayor McLean Thinks Grooming Kids to Drag is Beautiful. No Civilization Can Agree and Survive