OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Vice President Kamala Harris continues to burn through staff, as another member of her communications team announced this week he is calling it quits.
Communications Director Jamal Simmons will leave by the first of the year, according to a Politico report, after having only joined Harris’ team in January to help her repair her image following a tumultuous first year in office.
Breitbart News notes further:
Harris’ chief of staff Lorraine Voles told staff in an email announcing Simmons’ departure that she hired him to help “steady the ship” of the vice president’s office and that he agreed to serve in the position for a year, according to the report.
The vice president’s office continues to face high turnover, especially in the communications department.
In April, Harris’ chief of staff, Tina Flournoy, announced she was leaving.
“Tina has been a valued advisor and confidant to me and a tremendous leader for the office,” the vice president said. “From day 1, she led our team during a historic first year as we made progress rebuilding our economy here at home and our alliances around the world. Tina is the consummate public servant and I will continue to rely on her advice, counsel, and friendship.”
“Tina has been a critical member of the White House team since day one, working with the President and Vice President to make their partnership effective and help the administration deliver on critical priorities,” President Joe Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain said. “Her experience, wisdom, and hard work have been instrumental to our success on many issues.”
The Washington Post noted, however:
Flournoy’s departure is likely to revive career-long questions about Harris’s management style and the high frequency of staff turnover in her offices and on her campaigns. The move comes at a critical moment since the upcoming midterm elections — especially if Democrats suffer losses as expected — could clarify whether President Biden will seek reelection and prompt renewed attention on Harris as an alternative.
Harris aides say the departures are routine and unrelated to any internal strife in the vice president’s operation. Some also suggest that she is facing disproportionate — and at times unfair — criticism because of her role as a powerful woman of color…
Still, the high turnover in Harris’s office stands in stark contrast to the West Wing, where Biden’s inner circle has remained in place throughout his presidency — and much of his decades-long career.
Just a few weeks earlier, Harris’ deputy chief of staff Michael Fuchs announced that he was departing.
The Post noted that “Fuchs — a senior State Department official under former President Barack Obama, foreign policy adviser to former President Bill Clinton, and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress before joining the Biden administration last year — advised Harris on a range of domestic and international issues since taking office.”
In February, the VP’s chief speechwriter, Kate Childs Graham, announced she was leaving, with Fox News adding at the time:
This is far from the first resignation for the vice president’s team. The office has seen a virtual exodus over the course of her first year in office as staffers complain about their workplace morale.
Harris’ communications director Ashley Etienne resigned in November to “pursue other opportunities.” That came after reports of exasperation between Harris’ office and Biden’s amid lagging approval ratings for Harris.
Shortly after Etienne’s departure, Symone Sanders announced she would be departing at the end of the year. Harris’ office said Sanders, a senior adviser and her chief spokesperson, “will be missed.”
A year ago, the Post published a lengthy report detailing turmoil inside Harris’ circle, with staffers describing her management style as horrifyingly bad.
“It’s clear that you’re not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work,” a 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.”
