Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is
in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the White House, congressional
Democrats and Washington insiders who have lost confidence in her as
both a unifying leader and reliable party spokesperson at a time when
they need her most.
Long-simmering doubts about her have reached a peak after two recent public flubs: criticizing the White House’s handling of the border crisis and comparing the tea party to wife beaters.
The perception of critics is that Wasserman Schultz
spends more energy tending to her own political ambitions than helping
Democrats win. This includes using meetings with DNC donors to solicit
contributions for her own PAC and campaign committee, traveling to
uncompetitive districts to court House colleagues for her potential
leadership bid and having DNC-paid staff focus on her personal political
agenda.
She’s become a liability to the DNC, and even to her own prospects, critics say.
“I guess the best way to describe it is, it’s not that she’s losing a
duel anywhere, it’s that she seems to keep shooting herself in the foot
before she even gets the gun out of the holster,” said John Morgan, a
major donor in Wasserman Schultz’s home state of Florida.
The stakes are high. Wasserman Schultz is a high-profile national
figure who helped raise millions of dollars and served as a Democratic
messenger to female voters during a presidential election in which Obama
needed to exploit the gender gap to win, but November’s already
difficult midterms are looming.
One example that sources point to as particularly troubling:
Wasserman Schultz repeatedly trying to get the DNC to cover the costs of
her wardrobe.
In 2012, Wasserman Schultz attempted to get the DNC to pay for her
clothing at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, multiple
sources say, but was blocked by staff in the committee’s Capitol Hill
headquarters and at President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign
headquarters in Chicago.
She asked again around Obama’s inauguration in 2013, pushing so hard
that Obama senior adviser — and one-time Wasserman Schultz booster —
Valerie Jarrett had to call her directly to get her to stop. (Jarrett
said she does not recall that conversation.) One more time, according to
independent sources with direct knowledge of the conversations, she
tried again, asking for the DNC to buy clothing for the 2013 White House
Correspondents’ Dinner.
Wasserman Schultz denies that she ever tried to get the DNC to pick
up her clothing tab. “I think that would be a totally inappropriate use
of DNC funds,” she said in a statement. “I never asked someone to do
that for me, I would hope that no one would seek that on my behalf, and
I’m not aware that anyone did.”
Read More: Politico
