‘It is certainly our hope that effort not only continues, but accelerates…’
(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) The Democratic National Committee has been more than happy to take millions from failed presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, but in taking his money the DNC has also taken on his problems—and it’s causing general election concerns.
To fawning media coverage, Bloomberg launched his campaign last fall with the allure of a progressive New York billionaire who could beat President Donald Trump.
The campaign offered generous salaries and health-care benefits to attract hundreds of the best-of-the-best staffers. Bloomberg even promised to pay them through November, regardless of whether he was the Democratic presidential nominee.
But when he dropped out of the primary race in March, he stiffed them. And the multi-billionaire’s refusal to honor his employment obligations has caused an embarrassing public-relations headache for Democrats.
Bloomberg, whose net worth is $56.2 billion, recently made good on his promise to provide health benefits, albeit two months late and prodded by a series of lawsuits from jilted staffers.
Rather than pay the promised salaries, he now wants the DNC to find jobs for his aggrieved former workers.
In fairness, aside from the billion dollars he spent on his own self-funded campaign, Bloomberg is also one of the top-three overall Democratic contributors for the 2020 election cycle—which should come with plenty of leverage.
Upon ending his campaign, he gave the DNC a good chunk of his more-than $19 million in contributions to date.
“The Bloomberg campaign made the largest transfer in DNC history, $18 million, to help boost the DNC’s coordinated efforts, including by enabling them to hire field organizers of ours who wanted to continue through November,” a Bloomberg representative angrily told Politico. “It is certainly our hope that effort not only continues, but accelerates.”
Nonetheless, some ungrateful party members griped that battleground-state campaign organizations, already working for the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, were being told by the DNC to prioritize Bloomberg’s former staffers—regardless of whether they are the best people for the jobs.
“It’s ridiculous,” a Democratic operative told Politico on Thursday.
“There were dozens of candidates [with qualified employees] and the parties are being asked to prioritize the rich guy’s staff over everyone else’s,” he said.
Bloomberg’s presidential aspirations ended abruptly after his pathetic Super Tuesday showing. His falling poll numbers were precipitated by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., accusing him of calling female workers “fat broads” and “horse-faced lesbians” during a nationally televised debate.
