What should have been a two-bit, one-day, not-really-scandal involving photos Dani Gilbert, the new DNC liason to the Jewish community, took a few years back is turning into something much more. By all appearances, Debbie Wasserman Schultz gave a payoff to big Dem donors by giving their daughter a job at the DNC to perform tasks already being done by others.
Via BuzzFeed Politics:
Underlying the story of a Democratic National Committee Jewish liaison in hot water for an over-the-top Facebook joke about Jews and money is a growing tension between the Obama re-elect and the Democratic National Committee Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.The liaison, Dani Gilbert, was hired after months of heated objections from top Obama campaign officials in Chicago and from Wasseran Schultz’s own staff at the Democratic National Committee, three well-placed Democratic sources told BuzzFeed. The campaign already has a more senior a full-time Jewish liaison, Ira Forman, who had been the longtime executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Coalition. And Wasserman Schultz’s staff was concerned about bringing in Gilbert, a staffer in Wasserman Schultz’s personal office who is the daughter of a Boca Raton wealth manager, Mark Gilbert, who is a top-tier bundler for Obama, and a major donor to the president, the Democratic Party, and to Wasserman Schultz’s own campaigns….Democratic National Committee communications director Brad Woodhouse emailed BuzzFeed a statement flatly denying the account of the three senior Democratic sources who described Gilbert’s hire as a product of a rift between Wasserman Schultz and aides more focused on Obama’s campaign….
From Politico:
The staffer for DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz who posted the controversial ‘Jewbag’ photo on her Facebook page in 2006 is no anonymous aide — but the daughter of Mark and Nancy Gilbert, two major Florida donors who have raised more than $500,000 for the Obama campaign.Danielle “Dani” Gilbert, according to party sources, was tapped by Wasserman Schultz to serve as a liaison to the Jewish community, even though party officials and people close to Obama told her that more senior Democrats were already handling those responsibilities.
That’s the story, not the photos.
The DNC Chair appears to have used DNC resources to reward two big donors with a job for their daughter.
That may be good for Wasserman Schultz, who has a connection to the donors, but Team Obama seems unhappy that DNC resources are being used for something other than electing Obama. Wasserman Schultz better remember who runs the show and who comes first.
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