A County Employee Has Been Fired For Sharing Racial Disparity Data

[bnew]

https://www.portlandmercury.com/blo...ut-on-leave-for-sharing-racial-disparity-data

by Dirk VanderHart • Dec 8, 2017 at 12:54 pm

Amanda Lamb Multnomah County

A county employee who shared data showing persistent racial disparities in Multnomah County's justice system has been fired because of it, the Mercury has learned.
As we reported last month, local justice officials were angered by a presentation county research analyst Amanda Lamb gave in October at the Tableau Conference, a large software conference in Las Vegas. The 53-minute presentation unveiled a "racial and ethnic disparity dashboard" that's been in the works over the last year. It also portrayed a justice system where people of color are disproportionately jailed and imprisoned, among lots of other things, and justice officials who were reticent to share that data.


Lamb's talk got a hearty applause from her Vegas audience, but did not go well in Portland. Judges, Multnomah County Prosecutor Rod Underhill, and others were concerned that Lamb had shared their data without permission, contrary to county rules, and portrayed them as reluctant to make the findings public. They also painted her conclusions as misleading, and Ed Jones, the county's chief criminal judge, went so far as to call it "half-assed analysis." The backlash from some court officials was strong enough that Abbey Stamp, Lamb's boss, asked Tableau to remove a video of the presentation from the web. (We obtained a copy via a public records request. It's below.)

A month after the Mercury reported on the controversy, Lamb isn't at her job.


"I can absolutely confirm that she was put on administrative leave yesterday evening," said Julie Sullivan-Springhetti, a county spokesperson, who characterized the suspension as the result of the unauthorized sharing of data, not the contents of Lamb's presentation.

"As an employer, we can't overlook the unauthorized disclosure of information," Sullivan-Springhetti said. "That's what this is about. This is not about the disparities she was discussing at the Tableau Conference. We have never shied away from discussing disparities in Multnomah County."


Though Lamb is currently "on leave," messages to her county email address bounce back as undeliverable, a potential sign she won't be employed there for long. Attempts to reach Lamb haven't yet been successful.

Update, 4:25 pm: The county sent Lamb a letter [PDF] today informing her she's been fired in response to the presentation, a development that surprised some involved in the justice system. The letter, obtained by the Mercury via a records request, says that Lamb was actually placed on leave on Wednesday, not Thursday as the county initially said.

This isn't the first time the data analyst has ruffled feathers. Last year, Willamette Week reported that she’d been laid off from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office shortly after producing a report on racial disparities in the jail.

Here's the October 10 presentation that got people so worked up.

Systemic Racism in action folks.

Multnomah County, Oregon - Wikipedia

2010 census
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 735,334 people, 304,540 households, and 163,539 families residing in the county.[24] The population density was 1,704.9 inhabitants per square mile (658.3/km2). There were 324,832 housing units at an average density of 753.2 per square mile (290.8/km2).[25] The racial makeup of the county was 76.5% white, 6.5% Asian, 5.6% black or African American, 1.1% American Indian, 0.5% Pacific islander, 5.1% from other races, and 4.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 10.9% of the population.[24] In terms of ancestry, 19.4% were German, 12.2% were Irish, 11.4% were English, and 4.2% were American.[26]

https://www.portlandmercury.com/ima...mandalamb_portlandmercury_records_12_8_17.pdf

edit: Video of the presentation that was taken down
Google Drive - Virus scan warning

 

[Just like bruddas]

Chess. not checkers. If you work for the system you have to be careful about what you say and who you say it around. Personally I would have given the info to someone to post. We all have to make a living out there and that should be place above all else. If you feel conflicted, resign before it get messy