Harmeet Dhillon, newly elected chair of the San Francisco Republican Party (http://www.kalwnews.org)

Well, the GOP Party of San Francisco unanimously elected me, an orthodox Sikh with a funny name, to be its chairwoman. So, as far as I’m concerned, it’s never been an issue here in my rise through the ranks of the party. To the contrary, I’d say that members of my party have actively reached out and encouraged me to run for leadership positions. I’m the chairman of outreach for the California Republican Party statewide. The party asked me to run for the State Assembly two years ago. So I feel like I’ve been offered a number of opportunities based on my merits.

— Harmeet Dhillon, the newly elected chairwoman of San Francisco’s Republican Party. A more moderate Republican, she also happens to be the attorney who is representing Trilochan Singh Oberoi, the Sikh who is being barred from employment by the California Department of Corrections despite a court order to the contrary.  The state Attorney General, Kamala Harris (a Democrat and of part-Indian origin), has thus far has upheld the CDCR’s refusal – despite the court order – to employ Trilochan Singh on the basis of his maintaining his beard.

Harmeet Dhillon grew up in North Carolina, not far from where recently-elected Governor of South Carolina (and former Sikh) Nikki Haley was raised. Incidentally, Haley and her father, Dr. Ajit Singh Randhawa, are now associated with rumors and an informal investigation by authorities related to the management of finances of their local Gurdwara in Columbia, South Carolina.