Yeah, she's the cream of the crop.

Published:

Former Staffers Describe Harris As ‘Soul-Destroying Bully’ Who Left Them In Tears

Photo of Jon Dougherty Jon DoughertyJuly 27, 2024
 Getty Images
Advertisement

OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Several former staffers of Vice President Kamala Harris have unloaded on their one-time boss, describing her as a “bully” who often left people in tears after berating them in degrading tirades.

The staffers, who spoke to author Charlie Spiering for the UK’s Daily Mail, described her as a “soul-destroying bully,” which led to unprecedented levels of staff turnover.

“Only four of the initial 71 staffers hired by Harris during her first year in office still remain in a job. The rest either quit or were fired, according to analysis by non-partisan watchdog Open The Books,” Spiering reported. “That translates to a 92 percent staff turnover rate – and, say critics, is a likely sign that the issues on Team Harris have more to do with her than anyone else.”

He went on to note that, while researching his recently published Harris biography, “Amateur Hour,” which was released in January, his sources recounted “horror stories” of their treatment by Harris, several of which he said “shocked me.”

Dating back to 2010, when she served as California attorney general, she was known then as running a “toxic” work environment. One professor at the University of California-Sacramento, Barbara O’Connor, told the biographer that several of her students who interned for Harris “frequently came back to her crying and saying that they ‘felt they weren’t valued.'”

Advertisement

When Harris was elected in 2016 as a U.S. senator from the Golden State, apparently she took the same bad behaviors to Washington, D.C. “Analysis showed her office had the ninth-highest staff turnover rate out of the 114 senators who served between 2017 and 2020,” Spiering wrote. He added: “Congressional sources told the Mail that she would berate subordinates in expletive-laden tirades.”

Republican staffers would also, at times, get caught up in the verbal abuse. One source said she berated a room full of Senate staffers in 2018 amid the highly contentious confirmation hearings for now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was falsely accused of sexually assaulting several women during his college days.

During one episode, sources said Harris blew up in an angry tirade outside the main Senate Judiciary Committee room, yelling, “Anyone who’s staff, get the f*** out of here!” to all staffers, including those who worked for GOP senators.

Spiering added:

In a sensational resignation letter shared with the New York Times in November 2019, Harris’s then State Operations Director Kelly Mehlenbacher slammed her boss, saying: ‘I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly.’

Play
Unmute
Loaded: 5.43%
Fullscreen

She continued: ‘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.’

‘Morale has never been lower,’ she added, saying there was no ‘real plan’ for how Harris might win, but that she hoped her departure ‘might result in some serious consideration of […] our internal communications’.

Harris’ behavior toward her staff has apparently changed little since she became Joe Biden’s vice president, according to multiple reports.

The Washington Post interviewed current and former staffers, many on the condition of anonymity for a December 2021 story, and they gave some candid responses to what it is like working for Harris.

Advertisement

“It’s clear that you’re not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work,” one former staffer said. “With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you’re constantly sort of propping up a bully, and it’s not really clear why.”

Earlier that year, Politico reported that some staffers believed her office was abusive.

“People are thrown under the bus from the very top, there are short fuses, and it’s an abusive environment,” a person that Politico claims knows how her office works said. “It’s not a healthy environment, and people often feel mistreated. It’s not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like s—.”

Entry #2,144

Comments

Avatar CDanaT -
#1
Remind you of someone else ?  Saaaaay from around the 2016 era ?
Avatar lakerben -
#2
There is no way in hell I would vote for trump!
Avatar jarasan -
#3
lakerdummy only people with brains vote for President Trump, you are disqualified.
Avatar sully16 -
#4
Karma will come full circle on her, doubt she even realizes how nasty she is, but most dictator wanna bees don't.
Avatar lakerben -
#5
Jarsan why do you act so stupid all the time?
Avatar lakerben -
#6
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/sweet-labrador-mix-refuses-eat-173000258.html
Avatar jarasan -
#7
says lakerdummy,  you are definitely a moron probably closer to complete idiot. You voted for a communist, idiot.
Avatar lakerben -
#8
Jarsan you are the idiot. Everyone on this site knows that.  It's OK we understand. Take your meds and everything  will be alright!
Avatar MADDOG10 -
#9
@ LB, If you can't stand the Heat like you put up about President Trump, get the hail out of the kitchen.
Avatar CDanaT -
#10
Honestly Maddog....Do you expect anything coherent from her/it/them/they??. He/she has yet to put up anything of intellect. Just the usual "only dumb people would vote for Trump" mantra. I have yet to see any statement of substance backed up with facts. It's as if he/she is stuck in the 5th grade with the childish postings. It's all the left has. They voted a senile old man in, then their elites kick him out and put in a woman that is now the queen of the ball, who they kicked out 4 years ago at the start of the primaries....
6 weeks 6 days and a wake-up my friend.....tick tock libbies.....

Post a Comment

Please Log In

To use this feature you must be logged into your Lottery Post account.

Not a member yet?

If you don't yet have a Lottery Post account, it's simple and free to create one! Just tap the Register button and after a quick process you'll be part of our lottery community.

Register