Entire ODP field staff now on Obama campaign payroll UPDATEx2 - BSB weirdness, Jeremy Bird’s role?
Thu, Jul 10, 2008
UPDATE - BSB claims “The full memo text is pasted below, but the short story is that the Obama campaign respects the work ODP has done and the intimate knowledge they have of the state. Unlike what has been rumored to be happening in other states, the Obama camp won’t be calling all the shots.” Yeah, right. Who else would be funding “Campaign For Change” other than Obama for America? My cousin Joe Russo for State Supreme Court?
UPDATE x2 - So I’m told Jeremey Bird is the “General Election Director”, who has been on Obama staff for some time, and is listed here as Ohio General Election Director. Do the field staff report to Bird? Seems odd for the state Obama director, Pickerell, to be Stirckland’s boy, and the “General Election Director”, i.e., coordinated/Campaign for Change director, to be an Obama staffer, but hey, it’s Ohio. It’s complicated.
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ODP sent out a statement today on the fall campaign. Oddly, it’s dated June 25. What jumped out was this.
This unprecedented cooperation between the Obama operation and the State Party is becoming a model for other states of how to win. For example:
• Obama’s “Campaign for Change” is headquartered within the Ohio Democratic Party’s Columbus office, improving communication and planning.
• Key State Party staff have moved to the Campaign for Change Team, both at the Columbus HQ and in the field across the state.
Ummm…..from what I’m hearing, “key state party staff” are now on the Obama campaign payroll, because the DNC money to fund those staff has now gone bye-bye. I don’t know what “Campaign for Change” is, unless it’s some kind of coordinated campaign proxy fund, entirely bankrolled by Obama for America. But as far as I’ve heard, there isn’t a coordinated campaign yet.
If Obama is paying all state party staff now, that means a few things. One, why are the staff still listed on the ODP website as ODP staff? Second, they now report to Aaron Pickerell, Ohio Obama director. Not Chris Redfern. Third, if all the state party field staff are now on Obama’s payroll, will there even be a coordinated campaign? Fourth, when push comes to shove, who do these staff report to? Redfern? Pickerell? Or someone else upstream in Chicago?
I do think having Obama staff, on Obama payroll, all over the state is a VERY good thing. Most previous presidential campaigns paid only a handful of people in state, letting ODP do all the field hiring and firing. That caused friction often, with down ballot candidates claiming staff time over and above the presidential side. I don’t imagine that there will be any friction under this arrangement, given that there are really no statewide campaigns other than Obama’s and Cordray’s, and given that Pickerell is Strickland’s boy.
But things do tend to get a bit complicated in Ohio, as I’ve written before.
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Tags: barack obama, odp, ohio
July 10th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
This is the whole story about the coordinated campaign in Ohio. The memo was sent to bloggers after PolitickerOH.com first requested information about the coordinated campaign.
http://www.politickeroh.com/how-obamas-campaign-will-coordinate-ohio
July 10th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
it’s not the whole story. what’s jeremy bird’s role? and who’s paying who?
August 12th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
You’ve got it backwards… Campaign for Change staff are on ODP payroll, not the other way around. The only people on Obama payroll are the state director, and a few other support staff. While Bird may be a long-time “Obama person,” he is now on ODP payroll. The only reason they set up Camapgin for Change as a separate entity that’s a “project of the ODP” is so that they could have a bank account that’s separate from general ODP funds that does not include lobbyist or PAC money. This is a GOOD thing, a NOBLE thing, not some sketchy plot.