Uproar in DCCC Over Lack of Diversity Within Its Leadership Team
“The overall plan for Latino outreach seems to be some 1980s playbook, which doesn’t work anymore.”
Politico reported Monday morning that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), “the party’s main election organ,” has delved into chaos as Democratic lawmakers and staff demand changes to address the lack of diversity.
Chairwoman Cheri Bustos (D-IL) returned to Washington, DC, during the recess as many Democrats have expressed anger and disgust to the media.
The anger began to boil over three weeks ago when lawmakers vented their frustrations to Politico:
“There is not one person of color — black or brown, that I’m aware of — at any position of authority or decision-making in the DCCC,” said Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “It is shocking, it is shocking, and something needs to be done about it.”
Bustos sought a meeting with Fudge, and Fudge said no.
“Until they show me they are serious about diversity, there’s no reason for me to meet with them,” Fudge said.
And Fudge isn’t alone. Interviews with more than two dozen Democratic lawmakers, aides and strategists detailed months of frustration and unanswered questions about Bustos’ efforts to retain staffers of color in top positions, boost Latino voter outreach and hire firms run by people of color. They said Bustos was tactless when challenged by lawmakers of color.
“The overall plan for Latino outreach seems to be some 1980s playbook, which doesn’t work anymore,” Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said.
Politico recently received more statements.
In the most dramatic move so far, Texas Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Filemon Vela told POLITICO Sunday that Bustos should fire her top aide, DCCC executive director Allison Jaslow.
“The DCCC is now in complete chaos,” the pair said in a statement to POLITICO. “The single most immediate action that Cheri Bustos can take to restore confidence in the organization and to promote diversity is to appoint a qualified person of color, of which there are many, as executive director at once. We find the silence of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on this issue to be deafening.”
DCCC Jared Smith has tried to reassure the upset lawmakers and staff by explaining that Bustos “plans to approve changes to the structure before she leaves town and wants to get staff input as we work to build a stronger DCCC and make sure our team, from senior leadership on down, reflects the full range of diversity that gives the Democratic Party its strength.”
The DCCC held an emergency meeting on Friday after Politico published its story. Aides described the meeting as “very emotional all around” as “Jaslow cried as she assumed blame for the lack of diversity in the DCCC.” Other members felt the committee “misled them in its handling of a staffer, Tayhlor Coleman, who posted derogatory tweets about LGBTQ people and Latinos nearly 10 years ago.”
The committee held a staff phone call with Bustos on Saturday, but Democrats said she “only ‘briefly’ apologized for the comments” she made about her family background in order to prove she does not hold racist views. She reminded the lawmakers and staff that “her husband is of Mexican descent, her children are half Mexican and her son is marrying an African American woman.”
The Democratic Party has had fights within the ranks splashed across the headlines, especially between Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The Democrats know the last thing they need is more infighting.
The lack of diversity has led members to believe this problem could cause problems with fundraising. The Republican Party has blown away the Democrats when it comes to fundraising, but Democrats received good news last week:
Key House campaigns reported massive fundraising hauls for this early stage of the campaign cycle, according to federal disclosures filed this past week by congressional campaigns, with all Democratic freshmen but one outraising their declared Republican challengers and several GOP incumbents lapped by Democratic opponents.
All told, Democratic House candidates raised $17.6 million more than Republicans between April and June, according to a Washington Post analysis of quarterly fundraising reports. That gap could close as more GOP challengers announce their campaigns, but it represents a significant head start for Democrats.
The Democrats hope Bustos will act on their demands to perform an “immediate restructuring” to the DCCC leadership in order to bring back the calm the party desperately needs.
The staffers and sources do not have their hopes up because “it’s unclear what immediate actions, if any, Bustos intends to take.”
[Featured image via YouTube]
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Comments
Maybe the DCCC seeks competency rather then quota filling?
There are a multitude of problems with diversity, especially with diversity for the sake of diversity.
1. You rarely get the most qualified, you just get what can fill the check box. Sometimes you get lucky, but usually you get affirmative action types, like Obama was, claimed credentials which are sealed – so we just have to take his word for it, and we saw how well that worked for this country.
2. Diversity means differences, including different goals, views, drives, but of course that is real world, not Leftist utopia, where diversity means people of color (God I had that stupid, vapid phrase) who all hold exactly the same view, march lock step to their orders, don’t think for themselves types. It is also sexist and racist against white men.
3. Lack of real focus as each “diverse” person brings their little identity political hot buttons, and the only thing they agree on is raise taxes, hate the rich, even though they are usually wealthy, and work on more division because diversity means division as well.
Ha ha!!!!!
Thanks for the big belly laugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe the DCCC should also be Protesting this….
“…..Elijah Cummings prompted IRS targeting of True the Vote”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/darrell-issa-says-emails-suggest-elijah-cummings-prompted-irs-targeting-of-true-the-vote#.U0XX13hPHgk.twitter
Cheri seems to be as much a gringa as i am a gringo.
color me unimpressed.
but, by all means, keep up the infighting!
When first we practice… Color quotas. Affirmative discrimination. Progress.
“There is not one person of color — black or brown, that I’m aware of — at any position of authority or decision-making in the DCCC,” said Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Some only see diversity or the lack thereof. Post modernism gives rise to the reincarnation of bigotry.
In their quest for “diversity” they become more sexist and racist, at least against white men. Or white hispanics (if its convenient to push black racism…
They fail to see that their diversity is exclusionary. And instead of getting the best people for the jobs, they get as good as they can who can check the boxes.
Fudge is an interesting surname for a black person.
Thought experiment. Is it better to have the best and brightest regardless of identity or intersectionality or a box of crayons?
“Jaslow cried as she assumed blame for the lack of diversity”
Heh, there’s no crying in baseball. Doesn’t work in politics either.
“She reminded the lawmakers and staff that “her husband is of Mexican descent, her children are half Mexican and her son is marrying an African American woman.”
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Martin Luther King, Jr. January 20, 1963
Sorry, Dr. King. The Democrats are still not there yet.
I didn’t understand this part. From what I understand, Jaslow said this describing her own family, and now she’s criticized for apologizing only briefly about it.
Why should any apology be expected at all? Who would expect her to apologize for that, either as a demonstration of non-racism. or for any other reason?
There is no way to demonstrate non-racism. You either belong to the group via skin color or you’re a racist.
Just swapping racism and sexism targets. “Reverend” Al is so proud. So is “Reverend” Jack-son.
Maybe for Bustos it is not in her purview.
Is this the same bunch that rigged the primary between HRC and Bernie? These commie libs can’t seem to all get along. The warring tribes will always be at each others throats.
No, that was the DNC.
Thanks! DCCC, CCCP, DNC…so confusing.
Any working class American (black, white, Hispanic or Asian) who supports the Democrats needs to be fitted for a straight jacket.
In the times of slavery, there were articles written in Great Brittan that claimed the slaves in Barbados liked being slaves.
We don’t have slavery as it was defined then, but the chains the left have shackled various identity groups with are no less real. … Maybe those claims, made by the sugar plantation owners, weren’t so far off the mark. And there were slaves who were frightened by the ending of slavery, for they didn’t know where it left them. Of course the Democrats helped comfort them with laws against them so they would feel better about “freedom”.
Vg0va3 – you beat me to the punch with your quote from Dr. King. Separately, the DemoncRats want diversity of skin color but not diversity of thought. Their diversity is at best, skin deep.
Everyone here knows that diversity has never been synonymous with quality. As f’d up as the DNC is, let’s all push them to eff up even further by embracing diversity within their elite ranks.
Bingo! It will be a cold day in July when the Blacks and other self-identified minorities realize that their path to a fully satisfying life runs to the right of center, not around left end. Sadly their multi-generational dependency on the Dems who have no intention of making them self sufficient citizens has left them without the tools to take charge of their lives.
So, they want the DCCC to walk the walk and not just talk the talk about diversity? Is that a thing now?
Also, as someone who was married to a Mexican-American for over 20 years I can tell you that racism runs deep in that community. My ex refused to vote for Obama because of his skin color. So Cheri Bustos might just be like my ex.
I do note that the DCCC is being told to hire qualified blacks, as opposed to what? Affirmative action hires?
Time for the “diversity is our strength” speech? It’s how we put a man on the moon!
When they are done eating each other the last one standing will be looking at their appetizing left arm and thinking.
reflects the full range of diversity that gives the Democratic Party its strength.
Oh, silly me. I thought it was lockstep Borg groupthink, the Triumph of the Will, and systematic voter fraud.
Maybe they should put Auntie Maxine into the highest position within the dccc. She’d be a hoot to watch.
Don’t forget, this is the party of the kkk. So what else would one expect from them.
The comedy here is that the fascists at the DCCC want to win, and in that effort, they are smart to hire based on merit, not affirmative action.
Thanks, DCCC!
Minority wants seat that he/she/ze doesn’t have. Minority complains about lack of diversity, throws out a few accusations, and pouts until getting what he/she/ze wants. Rinse and repeat.
What they obviously need is someone like Alexandria Ocassional Cortex in the leadership. LOL. Then, a real Circus worth paying to watch would develop.
“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
He was right, but still these Diversity Weenies refuse to listen that it is Character and Ability over Skin Color and Ethnicity. WHO GIVES A FLIP WHAT A PERSON’S SKIN COLOR AND ETHNICITY IS IF THE PERSON CANNOT DO THE JOB AND DELIVER THE BEEF??
If America would return to its founding documents and realize that we are ruled by Law, not opinion, we would be united regardless of skin color.
But that doesn’t work in organizations like the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, and others that have a central theme to drive differences over character and ability, and they would dry up and blow away if they didn’t.
The DCCC just fired a white woman to hire a Hispanic. That’s how DemocRat “Diversity” works: fire the least likely to make trouble (stupid Leftist women) for the latest victim group.