It’s Bigger than Bernie, Bros
On a fast-growing, progressive, tech-driven presidential campaign, a fellow staff member attempted to rape me. I was not on the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. This assault happened during my year working on the Howard Dean presidential campaign in 2003. It marred my career as my attacker’s career flourished.
This week’s revelations of harassment and unequal pay within the Sanders 2016 campaign may shock outsiders of campaigns, but not those of us who have been within them.
We know these frenetic work environments intimately; their controlled chaos hides a multitude of flaws within a vast network of (mostly) well-meaning, hard-working campaign staff. The work is high demand and fast-paced. It means that issues like harassment don’t get addressed with the full weight of consequence because it is too time-intensive. It means that campaign leaders don’t get fired because the stakes are too high. Particularly on fast-growing campaigns — where millions of donor dollars suddenly pour in and staff numbers hockeystick in parallel with funding — creating a safe workplace relies more on reputations of those hired than practices and policies in the campaign.
