“I’m here to tell you I’m not only the third (person of color) in the administration,” said Steven Nesmith, who serves as assistant secretary for the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations.

In fact, far beyond appointing Rice, the national security adviser, and Powell, the secretary of the state, the Bush administration “is the most diverse administration in history,” Nesmith said Tuesday during a business diversity conference at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center.

The conference, touted as a first annual event, was sponsored by the N.H. Cultural Diversity Awareness Council, a non-profit, volunteer organization that promotes acceptance and understanding of multicultural groups.

The luncheon conference was attended by corporate officers representing a large slate of New Hampshire companies, from Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield to BAE Systems and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Typical of New Hampshire, the gathering at the diversity conference wasn’t very diverse, with men and women of color making up only a half-dozen or so of the approximately 80 people in attendance. Discussion following Nesmith’s keynote speech, in fact, focused on how to attract, celebrate and retain a racially and culturally diverse workforce in predominantly white state.

“It’s a difficult thing in the state of New Hampshire to find a good minority recruitment source,” Sheila Soule, assistant vice president and human resources manager of Banknorth Group Inc., said in a panel discussion following Nesmith’s speech.

Businesses should draw on diversity as a strength, she said, noting, “It’s the differences in business that keep you ahead of your competitors.”

In his speech, Nesmith touched on the importance of providing equal opportunities to qualified minority job candidates, and how his boss has set a prime example.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not for quotas. No one should be for quotas,” Nesmith said. “We must strive to structure a workforce based on merit.”

Nesmith noted that President’s Bush’s record for appointing minorities is without precedent.

“He’s also appointed more women than any other president,” Nesmith said of Bush. “We think the best is yet to come on that front.

“Women of color are in charge of more sectors of our government under President Bush than anytime in history.”

Minorities make up the chief operating officers under Bush in NASA and the departments of justice, health and human services, agriculture and housing and urban development.

Yet the assistant secretary acknowledged the dichotomy between what he described as the president’s strong record for promoting minority candidates and his weak track record of attracting minority voters, specifically African-Americans.

Minorities comprised only 8 percent of President Clinton’s administration, yet he received 90 percent of the African-American vote, Nesmith noted.

Conversely, minorities comprise 11 percent of President Bush’s administration, yet Bush was backed by only 9 percent of the African-American vote in the 2000 election.

Nesmith attributed that to Bush’s unwillingness to beat his chest about his record. He elaborated on that point in an interview after the speech.

“I think you’re going to see a very methodical, well thought-out and comprehensive strategy to get the word out” to African-American voters in the 2004 election, Nesmith said following the conference. “I say this very sincerely, I believe the president is a modest man.”

Because of that trait, it will be up to others in the administration – notably minority members – to get the word out, Nesmith said, adding, “It’s because the president believes that if someone rises to a position of power as a minority, that person deserves to be there, and we don’t need to trumpet that.”

Nesmith noted that he was the first African-American to be confirmed in his job, but the White House chose not to call a press conference to stress the point.

“There are a bunch of folks who are minorities in this administration doing the yeoman’s work every day at their desks. We’re going to unleash those folks.”

In beginning his speech, Nesmith said he likes to emphasize his basketball career over the fact that he’s a lawyer. Nesmith was captain of his team at American University and tried out with the Philadelphia 76ers before playing professionally in Europe. He was named to the Washington, D.C., Basketball Hall of Fame.

He drew a parallel between how a sports team and a diverse workforce can work together successfully.

“As a professional basketball player, I like to say we’re all on the same team, trying to achieve a common goal.”

Diversity can be defined in a number of ways, most notably by characteristics of race, ethnicity, culture, country of origin, language, gender, age, physical disability and occupational class, Nesmith pointed out.

“All of these different characteristics do make up a co-worker we sit next to every day,” he said. “And yet all these distinctions are the make-up of each of us as a unique individual."