Comments on: Sestak sheds another staffer

By: Atif Eric Gulab

Atif Eric Gulab — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:46:09 +0000

Nobody works harder for ordinary Pennsylvanians than U.S. Senator Arlen Specter.

By: HateSestak

HateSestak — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:54:58 +0000

Try vedi: Hi. I beg to differ. Intelligent voters do care. If a candidate for high office cannot efficaciously manage a campaign or work in a collegial fashion with others, it raises questions about their ability to craft legislation, implement public policy and assemble coalitions. These are skills that office-holders must possess if they are to serve their constituents well. Representative Sestak has alienated his campaign staff, prominent Democrats, the incumbent Democratic President of the United States, and, of course, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He has anatagonized virtually every major political actor he would interact with as a Senator. If he were to prevail in this primary and/or the general election, how the @#! could he possibly be an effective public servant?! He would be a pariah, isolated from all the key actors in the decision-making process. In truth, he already is a pariah – a political leper. Those who support this man’s ill-fated Senate bid (if any remain) need to confront this empirical reality. Representative Sestak is poison. And he grows more toxic with each passing moment.

By: David Diano

David Diano — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:51:49 +0000

Try vedi-
It’s also the “insiders” that power the campaigns with their volunteering, canvassing, fundraising, etc.
The old saying comes to mind, about paying attention to how you treat people on the way up, because you are going to meet them again on the way down.

By: Try vedi

Try vedi — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:01:18 +0000

Voters don’t care. But insiders do. And if good people are leaving that is a problem. And the rumors have about Sestak being a tough boss are plentiful. However, this may be more about Sestak losing hope as a campaign.

By: David Diano

David Diano — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:06:09 +0000

Intelligent Voter-
There’s a difference between working hard and spinning your wheels. Sestak’s operation is very inefficient and he hires inexperienced people that he bullies into leaving before they can get past training into becoming productive.

There are also labor laws (and ethical ones) about paying a fair wage. Most of Sestak’s staff makes less than minimum wage.

Dave-
That’s the event I was talking about, though I didn’t identify Scoles. It think it was Shelly and possibly Cliff who rejected the “Joe in charge” offer because it would usurp authority from the county party. Joe didn’t need to be in charge to help (we helped, but didn’t ask to relinquish control of his campaign).

BTW, that picnic was also where Joe admitted that he and some other Dems (as the GOP had charged) were counting on the War to be a enough of a failure that they could claim a political “I told you so”. This was not long after I had written my public condemnation of Joe for his Iraq vote. So, Joe looked directly at me before he made his remarks and say he hoped his comments would stay “private” within the group. I think the statute of limitations is up on that. Unfortunately, it showed not only how callus Joe was about human life and the soldiers compared to political calculations, but how phony his Iraq War vote had been.

Jimmy-
Whatever bad reputation Specter has, Sestak took the crown away from him on this one.

By: Carbon County for Specter

Carbon County for Specter — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:04:08 +0000

Specter doesnt have high staff turnover, I have been dealing with the same people in Washington and in the state for years. He has a very low turnover rate.

I think Joe Sestak needs a reality check. Sweatshop Sestak is two sided. He is pro labor and pro lower and middle class but treats his staff like they are little Vietnamese children sewing together a pair of Nike shoes. As a Democratic, that fact is eye-opening. Reading about his staff leaving tells me that he is a man who thinks this is still the Navy. Joe your staffers arent surrounded by water, they can jump ship at any time and you cannot cry mutiny. Sorry Joe, but your time has come. As the Marine say, Lead, Follow or in Joe’s case Get Out of the Way!

By: Jimmy James

Jimmy James — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:08:56 +0000

I agree with the comments that our reps and senators should have a positive working environment. But Sestak isn’t the only one with this problem. The word is that Specter is a tyrant. He has constant turnover, as well.

By: dave lewis

dave lewis — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:52:03 +0000

Actually I remember the him saying that he wanted no parts of the back and forth crap and that he just wanted to focus on his job. This was at the Dr.Scoles house.

By: IntelligentVoter

IntelligentVoter — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:53:16 +0000

Expecting people to work hard in Congress is indeed a novel thing.

Complaining that Sestak expects his staff to actually work hard and put in long hours is puzzling.

Shouldnt we expect that with the use of our public dollars?

Given that this country has no money, why isn’t this is a good thing.

PA2010 – how about a story about what staff actually get paid for what they do and the hours they work? I think most of the general public would be shocked by the findings and frankly would be outraged.

By: David Diano

David Diano — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:30:01 +0000

dave lewis-
I agree the county campaign was a mess. At a picnic in June 2007, with various Delco Dem leadership, Sestak said he would help the campaigns, ONLY if he was put completely in charge.
There is no “I” in help.

TO ALL: SESTAK’S PHILLY HQ IN THE DARK
At 6:15pm this evening, the lights were off and no one was home.
The Philly HQ is right across the street from a store I’ve gone to every week for the past decade or two. When I looked across the see the “hustle and bustle” of a campaign office, there was NONE.

Sestak opened this office (to no fanfare) only last Thursday.

How can anyone take his claims of being a real/viable statewide candidate if that’s his Philly HQ, less than one week after its “grand opening”?

Hater-
I’ve got to side a bit with KG. I’m pretty sure that his staffers have NO IDEA of the Sestak you and I know. The ones that do, leave.
Accept that Dworkin is young, ignorant, or just waiting for another offer to come in. Don’t hold him to account regarding matters he likely has no idea about.
Think about it: who lets the below-minimum-wage staff know about the kind of stuff that is handled by the inner circle?
Pity Dworkin for his unenviable job, but there is no need to attack him for Joe’s failings.