Albany Times Union: Ban Conservatives From Public Jobs In Albany

You read that headline correctly. The Times Union apparently believes, and are publicly advocating, that conservatives should be banned from holding public jobs, even jobs that have no discretion or policy setting duties.

Yes, the Times Union is calling for a litmus test for public workers, even when they're in unelected offices where they simply do the tasks set by their supervisors. Presumably they would agree that liberals should be banned from holding any public jobs in more conservative areas of upstate?

And just how far does this extend? Should conservatives be banned from being firefighters in Albany? Librarians? Clerks in City Hall? Should Chuck Schumer be called in to implement one of his famous litmus tests on Jerry Jennings' secretary to make sure she's adequately liberal for the Times Union? Just how liberal do they have to be? Exactly how liberal would be 'as liberal' as the area? As liberal as Rex Smith? As a homosexual activist? As Alice Green?

How utterly foul - decrying the hire of someone that has no policy making authority, that is admittedly very well qualified, simply for their beliefs? Dare I say it smacks of illegality? Dare I say it definitely smacks of discrimination based on religion given the fact that the examples they find so heinous relate to religious beliefs?

Thomas Marcelle is unquestionably an odd pick for county attorney, and he wouldn't be our first. Yes, he's qualified. But his staunch opposition to abortion and gay rights puts him at odds with the views of most of the public and with laws that he may eventually have to defend and uphold, if only occasionally...

No one seems to dispute Mr. Marcelle's qualifications as a lawyer. He has served as counsel to the County Legislature's Republican minority. In his private practice, he won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed a religious group of elementary school students near Cooperstown to use their school's facilities for after-school meetings...

Mr. Marcelle says he would "absolutely" uphold the state's same-sex marriage law and that he considers people's personal lives none of his or the government's business.

It's fair to note that the county attorney is not a post that makes policy, but follows it...

We would have preferred that Mr. McCoy had picked a county attorney with more progressive views...

That leaves the matter with Mr. McCoy, who we are counting on to lead an administration that not only reflects the letter and spirit of the laws of the state, but the progressive and tolerant views of the county's citizens.

That's a litmus test for employment based on religious views and/or creed and is specifically prohibited by law. In black and white, discrimination against conservatives is A-OK for the Times Union.