Senior members of Hillary Clinton’s team discussed in 2015 the possibility of forcing Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., out as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, according to emails allegedly taken from the personal account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
The Democratic nominee’s team had grown weary of the Florida congresswoman’s seeming inability to handle “relatively simple matters,” according to a memo from Clinton campaign chief of staff Heather Stone to Podesta and campaign manager Robby Mook, which was published online Tuesday by the hacking group WikiLeaks.
“Though we have reached a working arrangement with them, our dealings with Party leadership have been marked by challenges, often requiring multiple meetings and phone calls to resolve relatively simple matters,” Stone wrote in an email dated December 17, 2015. “We are frequently caught in the middle of poor communication and a difficult relationship between the Chairwoman and the Executive Director.”
“Moreover, leadership at the Committee has been slow to respond to structural challenges within their own operation that could have real impact on our campaign, such as research,” she wrote, stressing “the need for systemic shifts at the DNC leadership level — to ensure that we have strategic and operational partners within the Committee that can help drive a program and deliver on our General Election imperatives.”
Stone wrote that they should keep the Florida congresswoman on until after the Democratic National Convention, which was held in July this year in Philadelphia.
“At the convention we would honor the Chairwoman’s leadership and service to the Party and introduce the new Chair for the final phase of the campaign,” Stone wrote.
However, whether Wasserman Schultz should be allowed to stay on as DNC chair after the convention “is an open question for discussion,” Stone wrote.
Stone then outlined three possible strategies for dealing with the Wasserman Schultz situation:
1. Keep Debbie Wasserman Schultz as Chair, and work through the Chief of Staff: Under this option, we would keep Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz as the Chairwoman. Her role would be largely ceremonial, helping with fundraising and serving as a surrogate. For this model to be successful, we would need to clarify to the Chairwoman that we will rely on the Chief of Staff to run the Committee, and would not expect her to be involved in the day-to-day operations or programmatic decisions.
2. Keep Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the Chair of the DNC, but bring on a General Election Chair, e.g. Governor Jennifer Granholm: Under this scenario, Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz would retain her title and would continue to serve in a fundraising and surrogate capacity. However, we would bring on a General Election Chair who would work with the Chief of Staff as our primary programmatic connection to the committee. This model has the considerable drawback of creating a two-headed monster with little clarity of who is responsible for different areas of work within the Committee.
3. Replace Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the Chair with a new Chair, likely Governor Jennifer Granholm, post convention: Under this scenario, the convention would represent Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s final responsibility to the DNC, and we would use the convention as a clean break between chairs. At the convention we would honor the Chairwoman’s leadership and service to the Party and introduce the new Chair for the final phase of the campaign.
Wasserman Schultz resigned from her chair in July after another set of hacked emails suggested various Democratic officials had conspired to rig the primary to ensure a Clinton victory.
