The mass exodus from the White House continues as another senior staff member has announced their decision to resign their post.
Kamala Harris has lost yet another senior staff member. Harris’ deputy director of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, Vincent Evans, has announced his decision to leave the White House in favor of a position at the Congressional Black Caucus, according to a statement given to CNBC.
“I am deeply honored to be named the executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus,” Evans told CNBC. “I started my career in Washington working for a member of the CBC, so I know first hand the tremendous leadership and impact this Caucus has in Congress and across the country.”
He is not the first person to leave Harris’ staff in the not too recent past. Her communications director, Ashley Etienne, as well as her senior advisor and chief spokesperson, Symone Sanders, left near the end of 2021. Two other unnamed staffers reportedly quit their positions in 2021 also. The turnover under Harris has gotten so bad that even the mainstream media has been forced to report on it.
“Worn out by what they see as entrenched dysfunction and lack of focus, key West Wing aides have largely thrown up their hands at Vice President Kamala Harris and her staff — deciding there simply isn’t time to deal with them right now,” CNN reported.
The Washington Post wrote: “The rumors started circulating in July: Vice President Harris’s staff was wilting in a dysfunctional and frustrated office, burned out just a few months after her historic swearing-in and pondering exit strategies.”
But this isn’t a new phenomenon. Kamala Harris has a long history of having trouble retaining staff.
The Washington Post reports:
“Critics scattered over two decades point to an inconsistent and at times degrading principal who burns through seasoned staff members who have succeeded in other demanding, high-profile positions. People used to putting aside missteps, sacrificing sleep and enduring the occasional tirade from an irate boss say doing so under Harris can be particularly difficult, as she has struggled to make progress on her vice-presidential portfolio or measure up to the potential that has many pegging her as the future of the Democratic Party.”
Gil Duran, a former Democratic strategist who served as an aide to Harris before quitting after just five months of working for her in 2013, has confirmed Kamala’s issues, saying that she repeats “the same old destructive patterns.”
“One of the things we’ve said in our little text groups among each other is what is the common denominator through all this and it’s her,” he said.
“Who are the next talented people you’re going to bring in and burn through and then have (them) pretend they’re retiring for positive reasons,” Duran told The Washington Post.
Other staffers who worked for her prior to entering the White House said that a constant problem was that she would refuse to read briefing materials in detail that were prepared by her staff members, then would berate them when she appeared unprepared.
“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.”
It’s clear that this is going to continue to be a problem for as long as Kamala stays in the White House, unless there is a serious correction on her attitude and leadership skills, which is highly unlikely.
