(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) An investigation from government watchdog organization Open The Books (OTB) revealed on July 22, 2024, that Kamala Harris’s office has had a staggering 91.5% turnover rate since three and a half years ago.
Of the 47 staff members hired when Harris took office in 2021, only four of her employees still worked with her as of March 2024.
OTB utilized U.S. Senate disclosures to obtain records from Harris’s office, including 2021 and 2024 payrolls.
“Chaos reigns on the vice president’s staff. Our auditors at OpenTheBooks quantified an extraordinarily high 91.5-percent staff turnover rate,” OTB founder Adam Andrzejewski wrote.
Payrolls provided more information regarding the “staff exodus” in Harris’ office. It was previously reported that Harris’s communications director, national security adviser, chief of staff and many aides left within a year and a half after January 2021.
“Furthermore, the turnover chaos isn’t getting better. In the trailing 12-month period, 24 staffers left — that’s almost half the employees,” Andrzejewski added.
OTB’s investigation also revealed budget discrepancies and a lack of transparency from Harris’ office. Andrzejewski said Harris’s office is “committed to the opacity of its payrolls and all other office information.”
In September 2021, OTB filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for Harris’ staff payroll. In response, a spokesman declined the request and claimed Harris’s office was not subject to the FOIA. OTB replied with a request for any transparency Harris’s office could provide, and the spokesman said Harris did “not have any information to share at this time.”
“The VP’s rejection makes her the least transparent elected officeholder in the country. Citizens ought to be concerned that the person next in line for the presidency is so unwilling to disclose how she spends their money,” Andrzejewski wrote.
The investigation also revealed an over $2 million discrepancy in Harris’s allocation of taxpayer dollars.
“We calculated that for VP Harris’s 28 staff listed in the Senate report, the 2021 salaries added up to $2,334,223. [Harris’s office] got $5 million for 23 full-time staff in 2021 and requested over $6 million for 27 full-time staff in 2022,” Andrzejewski wrote.
