Shirley Sherrod Declines Agriculture Department Job Offer
Email“I think I can be helpful to (Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack) and the department if I just take a little break and look at how I can be more helpful in the future,” ousted Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod told reporters this morning after meeting with Vilsack for 90 minutes.
Sherrod was fired by Vilsack in July based on an unfairly edited video excerpt that seemed to cast her as discriminating against a white farmer. You can read more about the matter HERE or HERE or HERE.
"I look forward to some type of relationship with the department in the future," she said. "We do need to work on the issues of discrimination and race in this country."
"I know (Vilsack) has apologized and I accept that," she said. "A new process is in place and I hope that it works.”
White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton declined to comment on the matter at a briefing in Martha’s Vineyard this morning.
My colleague Devin Dwyer has more on this HERE.
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Hey Shirley, nothing wrong with collecting unemployment for 99 weeks.
Take the much needed time off and get back to Tom in June of 2012. Maybe the economy might be a little better and there will be an opportunity befitting of your stature by then.
Posted by: Noz | August 24, 2010, 1:22 pm 1:22 pm
This ain’t Arlen Spectre we’re talking about here!
Posted by: Easy $ | August 24, 2010, 3:53 pm 3:53 pm
It’s okay to be racist, if your Obama’s kind of racist! Wright, Sherrod, et. al… One time is a coincedence, two times is a pattern…
Posted by: CBA | August 24, 2010, 9:33 pm 9:33 pm
It’s okay to be racist, if your Obama’s kind of racist! Wright, Sherrod, et. al… One time is a coincedence, two times is a pattern…
Posted by: CBA | Aug 24, 2010 9:33:34 PM
You don’t know anything about either of those people.
Posted by: Shirley K | August 24, 2010, 11:05 pm 11:05 pm
This small example of job creation is interesting. There are countless lefties that say “No one would choose unemployment over a full-time job,” but here you go…
She was fired from her Gov’t job (and I assume someone either has or will be taking her new job), making her eligible for unemployment. She was later offered a higher-paying full-time job, but dramatically turned it down, choosing to remain unemployed!
Is her old job available? Is her quickly-created higher-paying job (payoff) available?
Maybe the prospect of 99 weeks of paid unemployment, federal healthcare, and the possibility of her getting a book deal AND suing the Gov’t for her wrongful termination was too appealing.
But there is also the large cash settlement she recently was part of ($13M), and I suspect she is soon to be eligible for SS and maybe even a pension… Maybe she doesn’t need the work?
Funny how the threat of being on a TV talk show ruined her career… Or did it?
Posted by: N2vip | August 25, 2010, 7:27 am 7:27 am
I am SO tired of seeing this woman’s name in the news. Can the media please stop caring whether or not she has been placated enough to accept a job offer???
Posted by: Val | August 25, 2010, 8:05 am 8:05 am
Andy Warhol was partially right: Everyone gets X-number of minutes worth of fame. His original amount of time was “fifteen minutes” — but we all know how inflation works. I guess Shirley Sherrod is the 21st Century’s Rosa Parks, but with all the trappings of instant celebrity: Talk show, speaker’s, book, and movie deals. I’m with Val — I am tired of seeing her name in the media, especially considering what else is going on in our tired country and sad world.
Posted by: ShamLamDingDong | August 25, 2010, 10:40 am 10:40 am