Kamala Harris Aide Resigns With Scathing Letter: Staff Treated “Poorly,”

Letter by Kelly Mehlenbacher originally published in the NYG ^ | 11/19/2019 | Kelly Mehlenbacher

[thegagline]

November 11, 2019

To Whom it may Concern:

It is with a heavy heart that I submit my resignation as State Operations Director at Kamala Harris for the People, effective November 30, 2019. This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly.

While I still believe that Senator Harris is the strongest candidate to win in the General Election in 2020, I no longer have confidence in our campaign or its leadership. The treatment of our staff over the last two weeks was the final straw in this very difficult decision.

It is not acceptable to me that we encouraged people to move from Washington, DC to Baltimore only to lay them off with no notice, with no plan for the campaign, and without thoughtful consideration of the personal consequences to them or the consequences that their absence would have on the remaining staff. It is unacceptable that we would lay off anyone that we hired only weeks earlier. It is unacceptable that with less than 90 days until lowa we still do not have a real plan to win. Our campaign For the People is made up of diverse talent which is being squandered by indecision and a lack of "leaders who will lead." That is unacceptable.

When morale has never been lower and additional people, even if only three, are laid off and neither the campaign manager or the chair addresses the staff to explain, apologize or reassure us of the decisions being made and the path forward, something has got to give. Presidential campaigns are incredibly challenging work and for good reason. We're asking people to trust us to look out for them, to have their best interests at heart. Campaigns have highs and lows, mistakes and miscalculations, lessons learned and adjustments made. But, because we have refused to confront our mistakes, foster an environment of critical thinking and honest feedback, or trust the expertise of talented staff, we find ourselves making the same unforced errors over and over. And, it certainly does not help the team to read about campaign discord in Politico (or various other publications) because those with things to say have decided the best way to air their grievances is in the press instead of to leadership.

This is not how I would have ever imagined my time at this campaign ending, and like I said, this was not an easy decision. I only hope that my departure might result in some serious consideration of our structure, our goals, our internal communications and what are organizational values are. We have really amazing people on staff and I'd hate for any more to get to the point where I find myself, writing this letter of resignation.

Kelly Mehlenbacher

[bigdaddy45]

I’m sure no one here agrees with me , but I think he shouid have chosen Tulsi

[DownInFlames]

To a liberal, it’s never their fault.

[SMARTY]

If she’s doing that, she probably has a turnstyle gate at her HR office