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Who is Linda Gorton? Kentucky mayor slammed for trying to redirect rental funds for critical race theory training

Her proposal would see funds being taken from an emergency rental assistance program and instead be used to provide city employees with diversity training

Mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, Linda Gorton is reportedly being slammed after she made a proposal to use funds taken from an emergency rental assistance program for diversity training of city employees. These funds from the rental program had been earmarked for people suffering financial difficulties amid the Covid-19 and she suggested that they be used for training on subjects like racism.

Her suggestion seemed to have evoked many negative reactions. “Lexington's woke mayor is taking funds for poor people and using them to pay a rich white woman so she can teach city employees how to become woke... this is progressivism in the 21st century,” author Ryan James Girdusky said on Twitter in a now-deleted tweet.

As per reports, the proposal would see funds amounting to $120,000 which were kept specifically for housing assistance being taken out of its $1.9m budget and used to impart diversity training. As per Linda’s proposal, now this money will be reportedly put towards diversity training sessions for $2,000 a day for 35 council employees at a time as reported by Daily Mail. 

The Lexington Housing Justice Collective clarified on Twitter in a thread posted on November 29 that the housing money ended up being “unallocated” due to bureaucratic slowness and not because they are unneeded funds. The Collective mentioned in its tweets how the city was reeling through the “worst eviction crisis in at least a decade" and Linda's proposal is adding to the housing crises. 
 
 A tweet by the collective read, “Monday, Mayor Gorton proposed funding implicit bias training for city employees. Sounds great, right? BUT: the money to fund the trainings is being taken from emergency rental assistance—during the worst eviction crisis in at least a decade. The city’s rental assistance program is already deeply underfunded. Now Mayor Gorton wants to cut funding even more. This will lead to even more Lexingtonians losing their homes in the coming months, after hundreds have already been evicted since August 24."
 
The subsequent tweets read, “The proposal is part of Mayor Gorton’s response to the Commission for Racial & Equality. But Black and Brown people are disproportionately evicted. Taking $ from rental assistance does not advance racial justice. It means more Black and Brown people will lose their homes. Here is where Mayor Gorton (referred to as "the administration") makes this proposal. Note: the funds were "unallocated" bc of bureaucratic slowness, not bc they are unneeded. The current amount dedicated to rental assistance will leave 2/3 of current applicants unfunded.” With these tweets, the group argued that it did not disagree with the diversity training but do not want to see funds pulled away from rental assistance programs for the training. 

Previously, the subject of critical race theory hit the headlines after the US State Department suspended all training programs for city employees that were related to briefing them on issues like diversity and inclusion. This came on the heels of President Donald Trump directing federal agencies in October to end programs considered as “divisive” by the White House. Trump had issued an executive order banning federal contractors from conducting racial sensitivity training, emphasizing his desire to stop “efforts to indoctrinate government employees with divisive and harmful sex- and race-based ideologies.”

Is Mayor Gorton being too woke with her proposal? 

Who is Linda Gorton?

Linda Gorton is presently serving as the mayor of Lexington, Kentucky. The 72-year-old who belongs to the Republican Party had earlier served 16 years on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council. The Mayor attended the University of Kentucky College of Nursing from where she graduated in 1971. Before embarking on a career in politics, Linda was a registered nurse. She was a staff nurse for a local physician and was a volunteer Family Support instructor for the US Army Reserve Battalion and Brigade Pre-Command Course as reported by her personal website. 

Linda has done ample charity service by serving on numerous community boards. This includes the Friends of the Dog Park, Parks Advisory Board, Family Circuit Court Advisory Board, Sister Cities Commission, UK/LFUCG Arboretum Advisory Board, Bluegrass Council-Boy Scouts, Bluegrass Military Affairs Coalition to name some of the many. 

In July the politician grabbed headlines as she announced a new group of 70 people whom she named for Commission for Racial Justice & Equality. This commission was mandated to seek solutions that dismantle systemic racism in Fayette County. In October the commission released 54 long-awaited recommendations to address systemic racism in law enforcement, housing, education, health care, and various other sectors. “Commission members have put together an in-depth report that pulls off our city’s rose-colored glasses and takes a hard look at the racism that holds us back,” Gorton said at the time of the release of recommendations.