It’s never good to realize that every time a press release drops from one of your state’s most powerful offices, the immediate reaction is “Oh, Lord. What now?”
But this time, James Uthmeier — the architect of some of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ dumbest stunts, before DeSantis rewarded his buddy by naming him to fill out former Attorney General Ashley Moody’s term — has truly outdone himself.
See, part of Uthmeier’s job is to oversee Florida’s office of civil rights. As you might guess, that office hasn’t seen much action since he took over. But now the acting AG is all bothered because of what he sees as natural-born rights being callously, brazenly overridden.
So Uthmeier fired off a sternly worded letter Thursday, accusing the NFL of racism. Specifically, racism against white guys. “People with race and sex characteristics that the NFL doesn’t like are deprived of employment and training opportunities available to people with race and sex characteristics that the NFL likes,” the letter says. “This policy is blatant race and sex discrimination. And it is illegal under Florida law.”
Legal gibberish
Let’s start with those last two words. Yes, it’s true that some of Florida’s civil rights laws have been warped into near-toothlessness at the command of DeSantis (and by extension, Uthmeier). But the absence of specific protections in Florida law does not cancel out the strong body of federal law that (at least, currently) allows policies promoting opportunities for people who might not otherwise have a shot.
You’d think that someone serving as Florida’s chief legal officer would understand that federal law trumps state law.
But go beyond that to what Uthmeier was actually saying. The implications are ridiculous. First, as the Florida ACLU’s Howard Simon points out, Uthmeier is not scolding another branch of government. He’s going after the NFL — a private business — and its contractual relationships with the 32 other private businesses that make up its roster. He’s also right to point out the ridiculousness of claiming equal victimhood for a group of people who have consistently emerged the victors in job-hunting. By his logic, any determination that a particular hiring pattern is discriminatory creates discrimination against other groups, meaning there’s no way for businesses or governments to address discrimination and bias at all.
Next, consider this: The rule he’s pitching a fit about —- known as the Rooney Rule — was first introduced in 2002. Did he just now find out about it?
And here’s one more data point: In 2002, when the Rooney Rule was being developed, the NFL had three African-American head coaches among its 32 teams. Today, it has …. three, including Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles. There’s one coach of Hispanic heritage and another of Lebanese descent.
Seems to us that white guys are doing just fine, especially in a league where minorities make up 70% of the players.
Rational, not revolutionary
That may be because the Rooney Rule only requires hiring minorities (or women) for a few specific positions. For the most part, the rule only requires that qualified minority or female candidates be interviewed before a hire is made. In most cases, a white man still gets the job, but the NFL is at least trying to develop candidates who were, arguably, being left behind by the good-old-boy network that led to Caucasians taking not just coaching jobs, but the roles that tended to lead to coaching jobs. Eventually, the NFL expanded the number of positions where teams were expected to interview minorities. It’s also added interview requirements for some executive and management positions.
If these policies were really causing an unfair backlash, the number of white coaches, executive personnel and other key employees would be diminishing. Again, it’s not. Uthmeier’s outrage is triggered by the idea that qualified minorities should at least have an opportunity to advance. Policies like the Rooney Rule take time to work specifically because they are not quotas, but instead focus on giving talented people the ability to grow into important roles, regardless of their gender or race. There is nothing in the Rooney Rule that forbids NFL teams from offering the same kind of development options to every promising candidate, including males and Caucasians. The focus is on merit, across the board.
It’s particularly ironic, considering the fact that Uthmeier is, himself, a perfect example of what happens when cronyism is elevated above qualifications and experience. Even if he was a legal genius, he is clearly lacking in the kind of experience and knowledge that Florida’s chief legal officer should possess. Yet he was promoted into one of the state’s most powerful jobs because of who he knew, not what he’d accomplished.
But while Uthmeier’s understanding of the law is apparently incomplete, we assume that somewhere along the line, he learned how to count. Nothing here adds up to discrimination against Caucasians. And the NFL’s calm response to his proclamation radiates confidence in its time-tested rule.
That didn’t stop Uthmeier from chest-pounding across social-media platforms. At this point, the attorney general’s Facebook feed should really carry the disclaimer that it is a parody account.
Nor has he specified what he would do if the NFL doesn’t follow his demand. But it’s not hard to imagine a financial threat against teams that play in heavily taxpayer-subsidized stadiums.
So let’s assume that Uthmeier is right about the law (which he’s not) and successful in his ridiculous challenge (which he shouldn’t be, but with courts today, who knows?)
Does that guarantee that Florida will soon see the return of all-white coaching and executive teams? No. If it guarantees anything, it’s that Florida could soon have three very empty, very expensive taxpayer-funded stadiums on its hands — and that other pro sports leagues are likely to follow suit.
And that will add one more industry to the economic drivers that DeSantis and Uthmeier have savaged — to the tourism impacted by “don’t say gay” inspired boycotts, or the construction industry scrambling to find workers after many of the immigrants it relied on became too afraid to show up for work.
Folks need to remember this in November, because Uthmeier is raising money like crazy in a bid to take the AG’s job for real. He’s bad news, and this is just one more example.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Use insight@orlandosentinel.com to contact us.