NEW CAMPAIGN MANAGER, OLD CONTROVERSIES
At this critical juncture, why Hillary Clinton would bring on someone with such a controversial past as Maggie Williams baffles me a bit. Williams had served as the First Lady’s Chief-of-Staff during Bill Clinton’s first term in office but left amid a flurry of controversy.
So… why her, now? My theories:
- Hillary needed to make a scapegoat out of former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, and the timing to replace her with someone else was too short. Using Maggie makes it appear as though it was the plan all along.
- Maggie Williams is African-American. Just as Solis Doyle appealed to Hispanic voters in Latina and Latina Style magazines highlighting her status as Clinton’s campaign manager, perhaps now Maggie can recoup some of the African-American voters lost in the recent months.
- Desperate times call for desperate measures. New plan of action to come from Hillary camp?
In any case, a bit on Ms. Maggie Williams from NPR News Blog:
Williams left the White House in 1998 after questions arose about her relationship with controversial Democratic fund raiser Johnny Chung, who was convicted of bank fraud, tax evasion, and two misdemeanor counts of conspiring to violate election law. Williams had also faced allegations during the first Clinton term that she had removed the files of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster after his suicide.
More detail and background from Huffington Post and the New York Post.
Other incongruencies: Clinton camp has said part of the reason for Solis Doyle “stepping down” is to spend more time with her family. Why then do other aides from Clinton Camp say this:
Importantly, aides stressed that Solis Doyle will begin to travel with Clinton, arguably giving her even greater access to the candidate’s ear. She plans to spend time helping Clinton in Texas, where she has close ties, and will appear as a surrogate on Clinton’s behalf.
Since when does traveling help you spend more time with your family? And yes, we already know Mrs. Solis-Doyle is tagging along to help with the large amount of Hispanic voters in Texas.
