Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta advised his candidate to call two high-profile Democratic Party members described as “needy Latinos” to win their support, according to illegally obtained emails published by WikiLeaks.
The August 2015 email, sent by Podesta to Clinton and top aide Huma Abedin, named former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Transportation and Energy Secretary Federico Pena, who served under former President Clinton, as the two Hillary should call.
The message, headlined “Needy Latinos and 1 easy call,” began by providing personal information on Pena that Podesta had obtained from former Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar. “I talked to Pena early, before March and he hemmed and hawed. Ken had lunch with him early this week and reports the following,” Podesta wrote.
“He’s close to committing but carrying some baggage. Fed never said this to me but he confided to Ken that his Cabinet stints ripped up his family, he gave everything to the cause and no time to his family, he went through a messy divorce in the late ’90s and was left really down and felt like no one reached out to him then, so he felt pretty cut off from Clinton World,” he added.
“His life now revolves around his new wife, Cindy, who is a supporter of yours and came to the fundraiser at the Chambers house,” Podesta said. “Ken suggests a call to him and was very explicit about making the following four points: 1) you really enjoyed seeing Cindy at the [recent] event and appreciate her support. 2) ask him how he’s been doing 3) ask about his views on the race and what she should be doing in Colorado 4) ask that he consider publicly supporting you.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2601767
“On balance, I recommend making this call as much because it’s important to Ken who has been great,” Podesta said.
Podesta suggested Clinton contact Richardson, who endorsed President Obama in 2008, to smooth over past relations. “I had heard that you were upset that I encouraged a call between [President Clinton] and Richardson to bury the hatchet,” Podesta wrote, noting “Richardson is still on TV a lot, especially on Univision and Telemundo.”
“I have pressed Bill, but I think it will take a call from you to get a formal endorsement. He’s on ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday. Probably worth a quick call to ask him to stay stout and publicly endorse, but if it’s too galling, don’t bother,” Podesta added.
Podesta closed with an unrelated recommendation that Clinton call former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges to thank him for his recent endorsement. Hodges has been the state’s only Democratic governor since 1987, serving from 1999 to 2003.
The exchange was included in one of 1,193 emails from Podesta’s inbox published by WikiLeaks on Wednesday. The website has published 7,199 messages from Podesta since Friday.
