Raging liberal Jamie McLeod-Skinner rages at staff
Raging liberal Jamie McLeod-Skinner raged at her own staff, who said the far-left Democrat “abused” them in a new investigation.
“The repeated allegations of abuse against extreme liberal Jamie McLeod-Skinner are highly concerning. She gives new light to the term, ‘raging liberal.’” – NRCC Spokesperson Ben Petersen
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Former campaign staff blast McLeod-Skinner’s management style as she gears up for a rerun
Oregon Capital Chronicle
Julia Shumway
A few months into her third congressional campaign, Jamie McLeod-Skinner appears to be a front-runner for the first time in her Oregon political career.
The Terrebonne attorney last spring unseated incumbent congressman Kurt Schrader in the Democratic primary for the 5th Congressional District, which stretches from Bend to the suburbs of Portland, then narrowly lost the general election to Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer in a midterm election cycle that favored Republicans. She has a wide regional base of volunteers and donors from two prior runs for Congress and a failed 2020 campaign for secretary of state. A poll she ordered before launching her campaign showed her with a commanding lead over other Democratic candidates.
Supporters have described her as “Wonder Woman” and a “role model,” dedicated to service. She appealed so much to grassroots voters that four county Democratic parties took the unprecedented step of endorsing her in her primary race against Schrader last year.
But former staff who worked closely with McLeod-Skinner say her public persona and the labor-friendly policies she espouses as a candidate clash with her workplace behavior. Five former employees and a consultant who spoke to the Capital Chronicle about their experiences described her as a nightmarish boss, who yelled at and berated her staff, corralled them into frequent hours-long meetings, texted them in the middle of the night and retaliated against those who stood up to her.
The employees, all of whom worked closely with McLeod-Skinner on teams of fewer than 10 people, described a pattern of behavior that stretched across three campaigns and appears to be part of her management style: Before her first congressional run, a small Oregon city fired her as city manager following similar complaints from city employees.
Some of the critics initially approached the Capital Chronicle about McLeod-Skinner’s behavior, and the Capital Chronicle found and interviewed others who corroborated their accounts. None work for one of McLeod-Skinner’s current competitors, but they said they decided to share their stories so that the public knows more about the character of someone who could represent Oregon in Congress.
The five former staffers and a former consultant, both men and women, requested anonymity out of fear that McLeod-Skinner would try to ruin their careers in the relatively small world of Oregon progressive politics. A seventh person confirmed their perspectives but declined to be quoted. Most of the former staffers are still based in Oregon, and they don’t want to burn a bridge with a powerful candidate or her army of volunteers and supporters. But they said it was important to speak out and warn the public and future campaign staff.
“I don’t want people to go through what I went through,” one former staffer said.
Campaigns are notorious for low pay, long hours and stress, but former staff said McLeod-Skinner’s demands and personal criticism took it to another level. Some say her behavior contributed to last year’s loss in a competitive district where Democrats outnumber Republicans. Chavez-DeRemer’s victory was one of five that gave Republicans their razor-thin congressional majority. The seat is among a few across the country that has drawn national interest and money from Republicans and Democrats, and it could flip the House again – or not.
A Democratic strategist who worked closely with McLeod-Skinner’s 2022 campaign said two things set McLeod-Skinner apart from other “notoriously tough bosses” in politics: Her focus on her employees’ faults spilled into the campaign, undermining potential victories, and her attempts to retaliate against people who speak out against her behavior.
“She spends so much time tearing her staff down that she neglects her duties, like fundraising and building support with voters and important allies. And, of course, her staff are unable to complete their duties when spending hours each day being berated by her,” the strategist said. “Jamie not only verbally abused her staff, she threatened retaliation when they reported her behavior. I’m not aware of any other ‘tough bosses’ in politics who cross that line.”
McLeod-Skinner declined to be interviewed for this story. In a statement, she acknowledged that her campaign could be stressful, but said she always tried to create a positive work environment.
[…]
The former campaign staff who spoke to the Capital Chronicle worked on different campaigns, from her first longshot run for Congress in 2018 to the 2020 secretary of state primary to the 2022 congressional race. Some worked together; others didn’t overlap.
But their accounts of their time working for her lined up. From campaign to campaign, employees described feeling uncomfortable around McLeod-Skinner and scared of interacting with her. She yelled at employees and spoke sarcastically to them, and they said she made them feel worthless. One employee even described suffering severe depression for months after working for McLeod-Skinner.
In one instance, former staff said she told an employee that a former opponent would have lost by 20 points if that employee had worked on the opponent’s campaign. McLeod-Skinner’s campaign said in a response to a fact-checking email that she had no recollection of that incident.
On multiple occasions, she ignored new employees even though campaign teams were small, former staff recalled.
Staff said they suffered from severe physical stress. One former employee described developing stomachaches before team meetings because of McLeod-Skinner’s treatment. Another remembered breaking down in tears during a meeting.
Employees said those who worked most closely with McLeod-Skinner were the most stressed. One former employee recalled having to black out 30 minutes after each senior staff meeting to recover from McLeod-Skinner’s cutting comments.
The core groups who worked closest with McLeod-Skinner on various campaigns tried to be buffers, protecting junior staff and volunteers from outbursts. As a result, volunteers, field staff and other lower-level campaign employees who mostly saw McLeod-Skinner at events or in large all-staff meetings saw a different person than those who worked closest to her, the former employees said.
“It’s a great big show, and she’s very good at it,” one former employee said. “She plays this folksy, rural, ‘I’m not much of a talker. I just like to get things done,’ when in reality, she thinks about everything through the political lens and winning.”
[…]
McLeod-Skinner’s behavior as a boss became an issue in her longshot 2018 campaign against former U.S. Rep. Greg Walden in the 2nd Congressional District. McLeod-Skinner worked for four months as city manager in the small city of Phoenix, Oregon, before the city council voted 3-2 to fire her in March 2017 after complaints from several department heads.
McLeod-Skinner requested a public meeting to review her performance. The city’s finance director testified that she was afraid of losing her job after receiving positive feedback from past bosses, while the police chief and public works director described trying to keep their employees away from city hall because they perceived a toxic environment between McLeod-Skinner and the finance director that was affecting other staff, according to minutes and a recording of the meeting reviewed by the Capital Chronicle.
“It’s gotten to the point where I asked my records clerk not to go to city hall unless she absolutely has to,” Police Chief Derek Bowker said during the meeting. “I just don’t want her in the environment and the negativity that I’ve seen over there. A few of my officers have come to me with concerns.”
The city’s public works director, Ray DiPasquale, said during the meeting that he overheard yelling and “strenuous conversations” between McLeod-Skinner and finance director Janette Boothe. He said he told McLeod-Skinner she needed documentation and a paper trail showing Boothe’s failures if she was going to fire her. Boothe said McLeod-Skinner cut her off from approaching the city council, which oversees the city manager, with her concerns. She said McLeod-Skinner ignored her requests for help, including updating the city’s financial software and hiring an assistant who knew how to do accounting and payroll, then drafted a work plan for her.
“I feel like I’m working in a hostile work environment. I’ve been afraid to say anything because I was directed not to communicate with any council member or the mayor without having it go through her first,” she said. “I was even told at one time not to email the mayor directly to even ask him to come in and sign checks.”