How Does Tim Kaine Treat His Staff?

Pardon me for a quick little rant here...

Political jobs are temporary, I get that.  But when you ask people to relocate all over the country for regional field jobs, and then give them two weeks notice (with zero additional severance) that's disrespectful to the sacrifices these people are making to take these jobs.  I think it hurts the party's ability to recruit quality staffers and goes against the whole "fighting for the little guy" mantra that Democrats are supposed to stand for. 

If this was part of a long term plan, why couldn't we at least have let these staffers know in January so they could plan the next steps in their lives?

In other Kaine news, this video has been circulating on Youtube today with people claiming it was Kaine's announcement video.  Pretty funny.

Comments

[Phil Perspective]

Anyone expected any different? Kaine is a DLC/Blue Dog. It's what they do. They destroy the Democratic Party from the inside out.

[SickofDems]

Considering his time as Governor and DNC Chair, is anyone surprised?

Remember, this is a guy who raised use taxes and fees while cutting the estate tax as Governor. Let me clear that up, he basically raised taxes on the bottom 99% while cutting taxes on less than 1% of the wealthiest people in the Commonwealth.

[Not Franklin Pierce]

To be fair, a national party chairman is pretty irrelevant in non-presidential years. Senate, House and DGA committee chairs have much more operational control over how things are run from a tactical and fundraising standpoint.
Specifically, if Tim Kaine "lost" House and Senate seats as DNC Chairman, does that mean that Michael Steele "won" them? I think not.

[Not Michael Steele]

Michael Steele was a far better chair than Kaine. Still no excuse for the head of the party making himself irrelevant.

[Not Franklin Pierce]

Fair point, but saying that Michael Steele was a "far-better" chair than Kaine is like saying that an oil spill is far more environmentally friendly than a toxic waste dump.
Bottom line is that nobody is crediting Michael Steele with winning anything in the biggest year for the GOP in a long time. To be totally honest, I'm not even sure why the national committee chairmanships exist, except to run the actual apparatus of certifying delegations and hosting conventions. Neither committee does jack.

[change]

This is the type of abuse employees must endure when they are not represented by unions. These poor people worked for “the man” night and day for years only to be tossed aside for political cronies.
They should leave the republican party and move to the democrat party where people are not treated in such a manner…
tpfic…

[People]

The attempted pardon of Jens Soering would be devastating to a Senate run for Kaine. That was a huge mistake that has not and probably cannot be explained. It would make several very good attack ads though. People don't go for that stuff.

[Dan]

I'm assuming that the nitwit who put this cute little video together studied history and government with Michele Bachmann.

The video says:

"Timmy even lost Teddy's seat, losing Senate control"

Funny, I thought that after Brown won the seat in Massachusetts there were still 57 Democrats in the Senate along with Sanders and Liebermen who caucused with the Democrats. While that did make life far more difficult in the face of total Republican obstructionism, 59 votes out of 100 is hardly losing control.

Perhaps that seems like nitpicking the whiny bitchiness of the video. But the extra stupid did make it more annoying.

And what is with the nonsense about "But Timmy won't let any other Democrat run..." ?

What sort of pussies put this video together?

I would love to see Tom Perriello run and win the nomination. I think he could beat Allen. Perriello is tough, smart and he isn't afraid to stand up for what he believes in.

Oh, and he isn't a whining pussy like the producers of this video.

Jesus Christ! If you don't want Kaine to be the nominee then draft a candidate you like better and win the damned primary. Don't sit around crying like children. But when that primary is over, work hard for the nominee whether the nominee was your first choice or not. Don't be one of those sniveling little twits who picks up their ball and goes home and willingly hands the seat over to the likes of George Allen.

And, Phil. You might want to rethink your indictment of what you describe as DLC/Blue Dog Democrats. The seats they held from conservative districts (which were lost last November) were a critical part of constructing the Democratic majority that elected Nancy Pelosi Speaker. And there were very many good, hard working Democrats (who you so casually attack) who fought hard to win those seats that made a Democratic House majority possible. And some of those (now former) Congressmen lost there seats due in part to votes they cast as the Speaker wished them to.

But I guess only Democrats who agree with you right down the line are worthy. All others are, to use your words, "destroying the Democratic Party from the inside out".

What nonsense! I thought that sort of foolishness was confined to the loonies in the Republican Party attempting to purge it of all but those with the most extreme right wing views. It looks like there are Democrats who want to lose as many elections as possible too.

Sam Rayburn once said when asked what sort of Democrat he was, "I'm a Democrat. Without prefix, suffix or apology". He's been dead almost fifty years but his words are as important as they ever were. One can only hope some of these whiny youngsters will pay attention. If they haven't already convinced themselves so thoroughly of their own brilliance that they don't think they have anything to learn from anyone else.

RANT COMPLETE.

[change]

Dan,
loonies are not confined to either party, and unfortunately seem to rule the day in both...

[Political Staffer]

I've been working as a Republican campaign operative for the last five years in various states. The way a candidate/chairman treats his staff is VERY important to me. In my experience there are two extremes:
1) The candidate who appreciates his staff and treats them like family, or
2) The candidate who treats his staff like second class citizens, works them to death, and never says "Thank You"

While the first is more enjoyable that doesn't mean that situations come up that can't be controlled. Any good staffer accepts that you work in a field that has no job security with no promise of a job if you win.

We are a very small/tight-knit community, but it pains us whenever we see people we know, in less than desirable situations - like the above.

At the next political event that you find yourself at, please go thank that new 20-something field director -- It'll make his day, and forget for the moment about how little money he/she's making!

[NotDan]

Dan, if you don't have 60 votes in the senate, you don't control the senate. You have a glorified plurality, not a working majority (as long as there's a minority veto).

If you don't want Kaine to be the nominee, you stop Kaine from being the nominee. You don't draft an alternative, you prove that Kaine is unacceptable. He is.

Also, Rayburn would be entirely worthless in the current system. Not realizing that nothing is as it was 20 years ago is why your comments look so absurd. It's also the same reason Kaine has been an unmitigated disaster as DNC Chair.

[No Prefix Either]

Great post, Dan! That was no rant--that was the truth! It is so sad listening to these whining wimps. Hell they can't break an egg, much less win an election!

[Harry]

That's quite the double entendre in the headline...

[Steve Vaughan]

NLS, knowing a lot of people personally who've worked for both, I've got to tell you that Kaine treats his staff far better than Warner. He's just a nicer person than Warner. Which isn't, of course, the same thing as being a more effective governor.

Both of them treat their staffs far better than John Warner or Doug Wilder, Virginia's two most imperious politicians of the last few years.

[Sam]

Gotta agree with Steve on all points.

[Dave S]

In my experience that's pretty much the standard in political employment, especially in the lower- to mid-level field and fundraising jobs. Senior staff usually negotiate something more or get a contract. That said, just about everyone I've worked for over the years has done a little better for me than 2 weeks and no severance -- but it was always a pleasant surprise to get something more, rather than expected.

Also, +1 on Steve Vaughan's point.

my 2 cents...

[Mr. Bubbles]

dave s and steve, it's actually so much worse. Trust me.