"It is important that personalities and politics be left out of employment decisions"

Personalities and politics always play a major role in any work environment that I have ever worked in.   If you want to stay in a job, you need play those games, and pander to the right people.   Just doing your job well is never enough to insure that you will be retained.

You can say that this is wrong and is not right, but it is the reality of the world that we live in.   If you can fare well regarding personalities and politics, even an incompetent person can do well in a job.

On the other hand, if those in power have a personal dislike of you, it will not matter how good you are at your job.

Life is unfortunately not fair.