When you politicians are on the side of the Pharisees

It is Sunday and I see a news report on shady actions at Stacey Abrams' New Georgia Project NGO.  It is relevant because Abrams is running for Governor, though not running particularly well.  She is already behind and finding that her flagship NGO was managing its business in a blatantly racist way is . . . unlikely to help her prospects.

From Execs at Stacey Abrams-founded group weighed digging up racism charges to fire White employee by Houston Keene and Joe Schoffstall.  The subheading is 'This girl has had insight into our inner workings,' said a New Georgia Project exec. 'She goes to the [secretary of state] pissing out of her eyes about some sh-- and we're cooked.' 

They have the screens of the text messages between members of the NGO leadership plotting to fire an employee they don't like and acknowledging that they have no legitimate pretext to do so.  They decide that their best approach is to find some means of manufacturing a claim of racism against the employee.

Frazier said the group "isn't a charity" and that people "have to be held accountable," with which Cotton agreed before suggesting digging up racism charges to justify the firing.

"Let's go the hostile work environment route and pull on the racism thread," Cotton suggested.

"How do we prove the racism that she is perpetrating?" now-former COO Missy Koefod wrote. "That's my big problem is that organizers feel that she is discriminating against them and that it is impacting their work negatively?"

"Missy, you would never get far before realizing that black NGP feel the whites are racist," Blair responded. "[They're welcome to] build that case at your own risk, but be careful."

There is a lot of corruption and incompetence in many NGOs and sometimes the two attributes combine.  Nothing like explicitly planning to manufacture a charge of racism to get rid of an employee you don't like to create the impression that your anti-racist organization is itself steeped in the racist behavior it says it opposes.

While this is interesting, corrupt and incompetent NGOs are not especially surprising.

But there was an odd juxtaposition.  I used the term "straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel" in an earlier post.  I knew it was from the Bible and checked to make sure I had my wording correct.  In doing so, I came across Matthew 22, 15:

Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

Seems oddly pertinent to the internal machinations of Abrams' NGO.  What are they doing but attempting to entangle their employee in her talk.  They can't fire her for her actions.  Can't fire her for words.  But they might be able to make up some words to entangle her in a charge of racism.  In Bible Belt Georgia, Abrams being on the side of the Pharisees might sink her another five or ten points.