Andrew Golis

According to an anonymous source within the DNC (I’m being serious), new DNC Chairman Howard Dean showed up at his new office today, convened the staff (I would guess there are around 80 of them), congratulated them for their good works, and then fired them all.

Another source who was actually at the meeting writes:

At the all-staff meeting, the Gov got a genuine, enthusiastic welcome. He gave a gracious little speech, complemented everyone at the DNC on their successes, introduced the new team, and then asked for everyone’s resignation. Effective March 18th. I swear you could actually hear people sh***ing their pants. I had no idea it was coming, and did everything I could not to laugh out loud.

Apparently, Dean did this on Terry McAuliffe’s recommendation. The Macker said that he wished he’d done the same when he started. People can, I’m told, reapply for their old jobs back and if they’re truly deserving, get them. I would guess that for many that will be what happens and for them it will have been only a symbolic gesture.

However, having worked at the DNC I can tell you that it is truly a mixed bag. Democratic politics is often populated by well-meaning hangers on who keep getting jobs not because of the quality of their work but because of the length of their resumes. I assume that those people will not be rehired.

This, by the way, is exactly why I wanted Dean to be Chair. He’s got guts and isn’t afraid of shaking things up. It will be interesting to see what else he does during the transition.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 14th, 2005 at 8:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.