Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Mistreatment Of Staff Scared Off Candidates To Manage Her Presidential Bid

[brooklynite]

Huffington Post

At least three people have withdrawn from consideration to lead Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s nascent 2020 presidential campaign — and done so in part because of the Minnesota Democrat’s history of mistreating her staff, HuffPost has learned.

Klobuchar, who plans to make an announcement about a potential presidential bid on Sunday in Minneapolis, has spent the past several months positioning herself to run for president. She’s beloved in her state as a smart, funny and personable lawmaker and has gained national attention for her lines of questioning at high-profile hearings.

But some former Klobuchar staffers, all of whom spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity, describe Klobuchar as habitually demeaning and prone to bursts of cruelty that make it difficult to work in her office for long.

It is common for staff to wake up to multiple emails from Klobuchar characterizing one’s work as “the worst” briefing or press release she’d seen in her decades of public service, according to two former aides and emails seen by HuffPost.

[riverwalker]

1. If they are clutching their pearls

over a cranky email from their boss, maybe politics is not for them. 🙄

[samnsara]

2. oh maaan i hate hearing that about her...

[elfin]

11. Same here. She is one of my faves as a VP pick for Biden (if he gets in)

I think she would be even a better choice for the Supreme Court.

Really smart and seemingly temperamentally balanced.

I suspect she values and expects exactitude from those around her. Not a minus unless you are embarked on a messy, wide-ranging campaign journey.

[question everything]

15. Lies, unproven. See 14, below

[PatrickforO]

3. Interesting. It is said that one can discern the character of

another person by observing how they treat subordinates.

I like Klobuchar, but perhaps she should read the one minute manager or something, eh?

[exboyfil]

8. Great suggestion

I also think she should bring in a management coach.

This is something that can be corrected (assuming that it is a problem at all).

It is good that it is coming up now. She has ample opportunity for course correction before the spotlight is on her. It is more important how she treats her staff going forward.

[BannonsLiver]

19. Amazing people will take this story at face value

Like, okay, I’ve seen enough, she’s a terrible person. A little too simple from my perspective but hey, not everyone has the same standards.

[brush]

33. Yeah, this sounds like ratfucking to me.

Anyone else who announces better be prepared for same—and Klobuchar hasn't even announced yet.

Let's see, Warren has gotten it with the Native American thing.

Harris with once being a prosecutor.

Gillibrand...well, the self-afflicted Franken baggage.

Booker, still to come.

[PatrickforO]

38. Well, Booker's opponents (and right wing people pretending to be

surrogates for his opponents) will try and tar him with the Wall Street brush.

[brush]

41. Yeah, they haven't turned their full fire on him yet.

[PatrickforO]

40. I have not taken this story at face value.

It is one datum in a much larger universe. I look into each candidate in depth before deciding who to support. The strengths I look for, in this order, are:

1. Policy and stance on issues (and I look into their history to see if what they have DONE matches what they are saying now).
2. Political courage - to they have the guts to support something that isn't particularly popular but is right?
3. Fundraising ability, and contribution ratios of small individuals, large individuals and groups.
4. Skeletons and other factors.

To your point, though, I do see lots of that - not necessarily here, but certainly on other sites like The Hill.

[manor321]

4. Anonymous sources? Were their names like "Doger Stone" and "Derome Corsi"?

[brooklynite]

16. Before you discount the source...

WaPo has a story pointing out she has one of the highest staff turnovers in the Senate.

[manor321]

25. I understand but male candidates are never discussed this way

Even with Trump, Rachel makes fun of it but the press almost completely ignores the massive White House turnover.

Male leaders are not judged on these kinds of criteria.

[Sgent]

49. I've certainly heard Rachel

rail on Trump for his staff turnover, she does a segment every time a senior person leaves with a "departure wall", number count, etc.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/continued-trump-admin-turnover-forces-expansion-of-departure-wall-1224576067610

[crazycatlady]

36. most likely not

I have worked for several political candidates. Some are more difficult than others. I've known of one who would go apeshit if his (plastic bag style) yard signs were not also stapled to the wires. Others don't want to hear constructive criticism about things like their websites or campaign priorities. When someone spends a lot of time with the candidate, personality clashes happen.

[irresistable]

5. I am stunned.

The impression that I always got from her was that she was very nice.

[a kennedy]

6. Was posted in MN thread.......

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10597709

[The empressof all]

7. So the smears and whispers are starting with Amy now

Oh Please...People were told their work was "the worst"!!! LOL...….How cruel! How heartless!!!!!!

[BannonsLiver]

21. HuffPo has been reliably anti Dem for a while now

This isn’t the first hit piece they’ve shat out on a prominent Dem in recent months.

[BeyondGeography]

9. Lots of details in there

Highest turnover rates on the Hill for most of her career don’t lie. But, hey, at least she never claimed to be Native American.

[PatSeg]

10. Here we go

Anyone who announces or implies they are going to run for president is vulnerable to every petty story that can be dug up or fabricated. Maybe its true, but I'm taking such stories with a grain of salt for now, unless we get more verification.

[Power 2 the People]

52. +1

[oasis]

12. If any campaign picks up any of these "unhappy few". Red flag.

[Kingofalldems]

13. I knew this was coming.

Bad things about Democrats.

Any Democrat is subject to trashing.

[question everything]

14. PLEASE do not repeat this piece of fake journalism

In the story, they refer to her senate tenure starting in... 2001. She did not enter the senate until 2007.

This put the whole story in question.

[Kingofalldems]

17. Good catch.

[brooklynite]

22. Not what the article says...

It compares her staff turnover to other Senators; the resource was a database going back to 2001

Klobuchar’s rate of turnover ranked No. 1 in an analysis of all Senate staff salaries between 2001 and 2016, conducted by LegiStorm, a widely used database of congressional staff salaries. (Klobuchar was sworn into office in 2007.)

[question everything]

28. Glad to see that they added the qualification. I complained

Still, if the database goes to 2001 she cannot be part of it until 2007. So go ahead, break the database and then give your results.

This really is "How to lie with Statistics."

[Garrett78]

37. It doesn't matter when she joined the Senate. It's talking about rate of turnover.

It's simply saying that in an analysis of Senate staffs going back to 2001, the staff with the highest rate/percentage of turnover is Klobuchar's.

Now, I don't much care about this story, but your critique is off-base.

[BeyondGeography]

27. So three people didn't bail on the top campaign job?

[question everything]

30. I don't know but I am sure they have their own reasons

perhaps prefer to work for Warren.

I suspect that she is a perfectionist and demand such from her staff. Perhaps staff members were looking for a motherly, nurturing boss. I can assure you that she been a man - they would admire him as tough and demanding.

[Autumn]

35. It doesn't say her tenure started in 2001

What is indisputable, however, is that Klobuchar’s office consistently has one of the highest rates of staff turnover in the Senate. Klobuchar’s rate of turnover ranked No. 1 in an analysis of all Senate staff salaries between 2001 and 2016, conducted by LegiStorm, a widely used database of congressional staff salaries. (Klobuchar was sworn into office in 2007.) She’s now third, behind Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen and Louisiana Republican John Kennedy.

[PatrickforO]

44. Acknowledged.

Interesting.

[brooklynite]

57. Amy Klobuchar acknowledges that the story is true...

Link to tweet

[Renew Deal]

18. "My boss didn't like my work"

Time for these fragile little butterflies to find a new line of work.

[dlk]

20. The Trolls are Busy

[ibegurpard]

23. Meh

If that's the worst they can say about her...that some anonymous ex-staffers claim she's mean... then she has nothing to worry about.

[rusty fender]

24. I've read, here and there, that Bernie Sanders

can be abrasive towards his staff. FFS people, presidential candidates are not one thing, not just nice and not just mean. They have emotions like all people.

They have high standards and they do task their staffs to the limit, but overreacting to these stories about petty issues regarding Democratic candidates will be the death of us in November 2020

[DontBooVote]

26. Look at all the repsonses already in this thread immediately falling for this tactic of

smearing Democrats by "former Klobuchar staffers, all of whom spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity" and by these mysterious sources from whom Huffpost "has learned". And, all the while neverminding Huffpost, one of the most egregious click-bait sites (I'm looking at you, too, Raw Story) on the internet and a ubiquitous purveyor of speculation and out right wrong conclusions.

And they do this while simultaneously throwing out their own previous impressions of Sen. Klobuchar in a split-second. I see this constantly and I'm still shaking my head.

[emulatorloo]

29. You are too smart to be this gullible eom

[OnDoutside]

43. Who is that person supporting for 2020 ?

[LakeSuperiorView]

31. Apparently, Sen Klobuchar is unacceptable because she is from Minnesota.

We obviously must all work together to destroy the futures of any politician from the Midwest as their potential interferes with politicians from the East or West coasts.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

32. This isn't just GOP ratf*cking, though they'd use it if they could, just as the MN GOP did in 2006.

Unfortunately, these claims have been made ever since 2006, when she was the Hennepin County Attorney and first ran for the Senate. At that time the local GOP made a big deal of some staff complaints and tried to get the union, AFSCME, to withhold their endorsement, but they endorsed her anyhow and she went on to win. However, there seems to be at least some basis for these complaints, and whether it's coming from just a few disgruntled employees or maybe people over-reacting to a demanding boss (maybe because of her gender?), it seems to me that it's something that needs to be addressed head-on, and explained and dealt with early, so it can't be made a big deal when the primaries start up.

All of the candidates are going to have flaws, and maybe a few skeletons in their closets, even if just a femur or a thumb bone. Some of these might be problematic; some not; some maybe not even real. But it's better to know about them before voters have to make decisions. Give the candidates a chance to address the claims and be done with them if possible, and move on. We don't want a situation like Virginia or John Edwards.

[crazycatlady]

46. as someone who's worked for both male and female candidates

The women can be very demanding in their own way. Also (IME) more stubborn.

Some things that only female candidates have done
Strict dress code for events-- this is beyond "don't wear jeans to a Jefferson Jackson dinner" but instead went into detail about minimum length for dresses/skirts and how low cut a top could be. Even if we were wearing jeans, the top could not be low cut.
Micromanaging individual counties in a large (11+ county) district-- I've worked in 2 such districts (one male candidate, one female candidate-- different states). She used a staff conference call to nitpick every individual county. He could care less as long as we were hitting numbers.
Used her campaign website to tell her life story-- as a voter I want to know what makes you qualified and where you stand on the issues. Photos should be you out in the community at events, knocking on doors, etc. Not your kindergarten school photo.
Yard signs-- As a staffer I HATE HATE HATE those things. HOwever, they do increase name ID. However, my female candidates were much more into them than my male candidates. One (large district) even wanted us to deliver them (hour + drive each way). At least we were paid mileage.

[Kingofalldems]

39. Compared to Trump:

Link to tweet

[jcgoldie]

42. This unsourced bullshit was posted here 2 days ago

Why recycle it now?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

45. I don't know... this has kind of an "Arkansas Project" scent to it. Just a feeling.

[emulatorloo]

47. Agreed n/t

[brooklynite]

48. UPDATE: Buzzfeed has it's own reporting

But behind the doors of her Washington, DC, office, the Minnesota Democrat ran a workplace controlled by fear, anger, and shame, according to interviews with eight former staffers, one that many employees found intolerably cruel. She demeaned and berated her staff almost daily, subjecting them to bouts of explosive rage and regular humiliation within the office, according to interviews and dozens of emails reviewed by BuzzFeed News.

That anger regularly left employees in tears, four former staffers said. She yelled, threw papers, and sometimes even hurled objects; one aide was accidentally hit with a flying binder, according to someone who saw it happen, though the staffer said the senator did not intend to hit anyone with the binder when she threw it.

“I cried. I cried, like, all the time,” said one former staffer.

In the emails seen by BuzzFeed, often sent between 1 and 4 in the morning, Klobuchar regularly berated employees, often in all capital letters, over minor mistakes, misunderstandings, and misplaced commas. Klobuchar, in the emails, which were mostly sent over the past few years, referred to her staff’s work as “the worst in ... years,” and “the worst in my life.”

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/amy-klobuchar-staff-2020-election

[octoberlib]

50. That article's even worse! My god.

[octoberlib]

51. High staff turnover is always a tell

In Washington, she is known as one of the most difficult bosses on Capitol Hill. From 2001 to 2016, Klobuchar had the highest staff turnover rate in the Senate. Her Washington office currently has 24 employees, according to the website LegiStorm


Most staffers who spoke with BuzzFeed News are experienced congressional employees who say they have worked with difficult lawmakers, men and women, in the past. But as a boss, Klobuchar was uniquely unbearable, most former staffers said — in a way that four staffers said was “worse” than any rumors about her behavior they had heard.

Anything could set her temper off, they said, and it was often unpredictable. Among the things that staffers said had prompted outbursts from Klobuchar: minor grammar mistakes, the use of the word “community” in press releases, forgetting to pack the proper coat in her suitcase, failing to charge her iPad, and using staples.“Two months later, that changes, and she’s really pissed about paper clips,” said the second former staffer.

Klobuchar’s temper also affected her own ability to do her job, said that staffer, making it difficult to prep her for interviews or distracting her in the moments before a hearing.

[smirkymonkey]

53. Wow. Not good.

From appearances, I would have never imagined that about her. She always comes across as very calm and level headed.

[LisaL]

54. Yep. If true doesn't sound like someone I would want to vote for.

[octoberlib]

55. I was shocked. A lot of people are crying sexism, that women get judged differently but

regardless of sex this behavior is abusive.

[Awsi Dooger]

56. Not great to read about

I'd like to hear from those people as well as read about it. Also another source to explore. If Klobuchar enters the race no doubt that would happen.

How she acts in public is exponentially more important than how she is viewed by some staff members, but I won't discount this completely. Sounds like she needs to loosen up in the morning in particular.

If it is sloppy writing by staff then I have greater understanding because that would drive me nuts also. Those communications to the media via briefing or press release are so vital toward how the senator and his/her positions are viewed. I would not tolerate subpar work in those categories. But more than anything I would try to make darn sure I had exceptional people filling those roles in the first place.

This doesn't dent my support of Klobuchar. We'll see where it goes. If she is asked about it directly I can almost guarantee her response will be strong and superb.

BTW, many thanks for the two hearts. I don't want to start a separate thread but that doesn't mean they aren't every bit as appreciated. Anyone who donated those to me would likely know to check an Amy Klobuchar thread...regardless of the awkward content.