Press Release - The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Civil and Human Rights Coalition Applauds Expected Nomination of Tom Perez for Labor Secretary
For Immediate Release
Contact: Scott Westbrook Simpson, 202.466.2061, simpson@civilrights.org
March 11, 2013
WASHINGTON, DC – Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in response to news reports that President Obama is expected to nominate Tom Perez, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, to be the next Secretary of Labor:
“Reports of the nomination of Tom Perez to become the next Secretary of Labor are welcome news to the civil and human rights community. Perez’s outstanding career in public service makes him eminently qualified to take on the important responsibility of ensuring the well-being of our nation’s workforce.
In his tenure leading the Justice Department’s civil rights division, he has shown commitment to upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans. Perez has been a champion of voting rights, disability rights, and educational equity, and has prosecuted some of the most heinous hate crimes in recent memory, as well as ramped up efforts to prosecute police misconduct. During his tenure, he also settled the three largest fair-lending cases in the history of the Fair Housing Act; as a result, the Division recovered more money for victims of housing discrimination in 2012 than in the previous 23 years combined.
He has made the well-being of everyday people a hallmark of his career as Maryland’s labor secretary, at the Department of Health and Human Services, and as a local elected official in Maryland.
We hope President Obama nominates Tom Perez to be the next Secretary of Labor.”
Nancy Zirkin is executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.
