Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar reportedly gave her staffers tardy slips, sends mean emails

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published 7 February 2019

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is going to announce her candidacy for president on Sunday, she strongly suggested to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night, on an island in Minnesota.

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On Wednesday evening, HuffPost reported that "at least three people have withdrawn from consideration" to lead Klobuchar's 2020 presidential campaign "n part because of the Minnesota Democrat’s history of mistreating her staff." Klobuchar is "beloved in her state as a smart, funny and personable lawmaker," HuffPost notes, but several former staffers describe her as "habitually demeaning and prone to bursts of cruelty that make it difficult to work in her office for long."

None of those staffers are named, and Klobuchar's office pointed HuffPost to several named former staffers who gave glowing endorsements of working for her. HuffPost does list a couple of anecdotes, though, including late-night group emails describing a staffer's work as "the worst" briefing or press release she's ever seen, Klobuchar's apparent struggle once to hire a chief of staff, and a staffer in another office recounting losing interest in a job with Klobuchar when told avoiding the senator's anger was a big part of the job. Then there's this story:

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One morning several years ago, when most of the office staff was running late — the ex-staffer couldn't remember the reason — Klobuchar wrote out tardy slips and placed them on each missing aide's desk. The staffer recalls incredulous bursts of laughter as her co-workers arrived one by one to find the notes, but Klobuchar was deadly serious. An aide whom she called into her office walked back out in tears. "She was constantly lighting new fires," a former staffer said. [HuffPost]

The accounts from staffers may vary, but "what is indisputable," HuffPost says, "is that Klobuchar's office consistently has one of the highest rates of staff turnover in the Senate." You can read more at HuffPost.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.