Bernie Sanders staff shake-up: Top strategists leave his presidential campaign

[lapucelle]

From NBC News:

The chief strategist of the Vermont independent's 2016 campaign and two other aides cited creative differences as they parted ways.

In a major shake-up to Bernie Sanders' just-launched presidential bid, some of his top strategists have left the campaign.

Tad Devine, Mark Longabaugh and Julian Mulvey, partners in a political consulting firm who all played leading roles in Sanders' 2016 campaign for the White House, are parting ways with the senator, citing creative differences.

"The entire firm has stepped away. We're leaving the campaign," Longabaugh told NBC News on Tuesday. "We just didn't have a meeting of the minds."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/bernie-sanders-staff-shakeup-top-strategists-leave-his-presidential-campaign-n976221?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_np

From Fortune Magazine:

Three of Senator Bernie Sanders’ top strategists have departed his 2020 campaign, citing creative differences.

snip==========================================================

Although it’s been just a week since the launch, Sanders’ 2020 bid has been markedly successful in its grassroots outreach. In the first 24 hours of his campaign, Sanders received $5.9 million from about 223,000 donors. Within the first six days, one million people signed up to support his campaign.

Sanders will still need to overcome reports that his 2016 campaign perpetuated a culture of sexism and harassment. The senator has twice publicly apologized for the alleged behavior, after first saying he was too busy to be aware of the mistreatment.

http://fortune.com/2019/02/26/bernie-sanders-2020-strategists/

[yardwork]

1. Interesting.

[NurseJackie]

2. I suspect there may be more to it than what we're hearing.

[cwydro]

3. There has to be.

Well, most likely it’ll come out eventually whatever is might be.

[NurseJackie]

4. In the business world, whenever the top talent sees that the company is sinking...

In the business world, whenever the top talent sees that the company is sinking, they typically abandon ship. The smart ones will protect their careers and reputations by getting out before it gets ugly. They'll want to secure new jobs while their current position is a mere "line item" on their CV rather than a "splotch" to be covered over.

Anyway, the only reason I mention that, is because I wonder if there's any correlation between how people behave in the business-world and the political-world in that regard.

[George II]

8. Indeed....

[ehrnst]

5. Tad Devine. Interesting. (nt)

[MineralMan]

6. Well, this can't be good news for Senator Sanders.

"Creative differences?" What does that even mean?

Basically, I think they're leaving because they want to find a candidate with a better chance of success. I can't think of any other good reason for that group bailing out. Well, actually, I guess I can. Maybe Bernie wasn't willing to pay them as much as they wanted.

[Hortensis]

7. Hmm. Those dirty bagages have already been replaced

with clean, shiny new campaign manager: Faiz Shakir, former national political director for the American Civil Liberties Union. Shakir's also worked for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

Don't know how Sanders could have been so foolish as to rehire those operatives in the first place. Obviously there are strategic differences in going relatively respectable and trying to align more with the progressives he rejected last time, but surely the feedback also clued him in that this time the press will be asking all the unpleasant questions they didn't before, and more?