Politico: Pelosi Staff Turnover Spikes Amid Retirement Talk
Politico Playbook reports “Speaker NANCY PELOSI has seen a big exodus from her office the past year as expectations grow that she will leave Congress after this term.”
Is this the clearest sign yet that Nancy is going to step down knowing her majority is toast?
In case you missed it…
Pelosi Staff Turnover Spikes Amid Retirement Talk
Politico Playbook
Rachael Bade
January 4, 2022
Speaker NANCY PELOSI has seen a big exodus from her office the past year as expectations grow that she will leave Congress after this term. On Monday, JORGE AGUILAR, who ran Pelosi’s campaign arm and has been with the speaker for nearly a decade, landed a job at government relations firm theGROUP. His was the latest in a string of recent departures from Pelosi land that have pushed the speaker into the 90th percentile for highest House turnover, according to LegiStorm data.
Pelosi’s staff churn has been relatively stable over the years, tracking closely with the average among congressional offices. But according to LegiStorm, turnover in the speaker’s office skyrocketed in 2021, a trend that tracked with anticipation that this will be her final term. Per LegiStorm’s data, her office ranked 42nd out of 439 House offices for turnover, and her turnover index rate was .69, almost double the average .38 turnover for offices overall last year. (Check out the chart below.)
LegiStorm’s “turnover index” captures the rate of churn while accounting for salary. So the departure of a chief of staff would carry more than a scheduler. “Turnover of 0.0 indicates no turnover during a time period, while a 0.5 turnover index indicates that half of the office, weighted by salary, has turned over per year,” the website reads.
Pelosi’s office downplayed the stats. Different factors always come into play when it comes to turnover, a spokesman said. Last year, the pandemic combined with Jan. 6 led to many staffers departing Congress. But the spike in Pelosi’s office was exceptional.