Monday, March 8, 2010

The Political Lesson Of The Massa Scandal

Pick your staff carefully, with loyalty being paramount.

Massa's sin was in choosing his staff poorly. One of them betrayed him.

See: Massa Details 'Salty' Comment That Led to Resignation, Slams Dem Leaders

But Massa said the staff member "never said to me that he felt uncomfortable" and "never went to anybody." 

Rather, he said "somebody went to another staff member who was uncomfortable for him. It was a third-party political correctness statement."
 

The cruel truth is that everyone has a price. For some, the price is so impossibly high that you can trust your life to them. Others will drool for a mere thirty pieces of silver.

You need to know your people's price. What are their limits? What are their concerns? What are their weaknesses? What can make them fold on you?

In politics, when you select your core and your support staff, you must know these things.

Especially if you are a Democrat going up against Rahm Emanuel and the Obama Administration.

Republicans are not safe. While it is very unlikely that any Republican would "Massa" another, the Democrats would do it to you in a heartbeat.

Know your staffers.

Know them better than Rahm knows them.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMonday, March 8, 2010 at 10:23:00 PM PST

    Hi Syrah - This is realwest - excellent post! But I have to say that I don't really think Massa resigned over that "salty language" nor that he made a serious homosexual advance towards a staffer. I do think he has serious health problems. I mean EVEN IF Massa said that to get the male staffer to have sex with him (which I think is extremely dubious) the only reasonan that the Ethics Committee would have gone after Massa is because he voted NO on Obamacare. Look how much and for how long Charley Rangel got away with before he was chucked under the bus!
    That Masa now intends to stay in Congress JUST TO VOTE NO on ObamaCare seems to me to say it all.
    Instead of shutting up, letting Massa resign with some degree of dignity, Rahm Emmanuel decided Massa needed to be punished for that NO vote JUST AS AN EXAMPLE of what would or could happen to other Democrats who voted No on it now.

    ReplyDelete

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