Former DNC chairwoman blasts Wasserman Schultz’s leadership in new book | Miami Herald

Donna Brazile isn’t a fan of tropical pink-painted walls, apparently.

The former Democratic National Committee chairwoman has spent the past five days tearing into Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s DNC leadership and organizational skills ahead of the release of her new book, “Hacks,” on Tuesday, one year after Donald Trump’s victory.

Brazile blasted the Weston Democrat’s choice to paint the walls of her DNC office tropical pink and a host of perks associated with the leadership role, like a Chevrolet Tahoe fully staffed with a personal entourage — including an assistant known as a “body woman” — according to an advance copy of Brazile’s book obtained by the Washington Post.

According to Brazile, the DNC was dependent on Hillary Clinton’s campaign cash for survival and Wasserman Schultz was more than willing to let the Clinton campaign pay most of the DNC’s debt in exchange for a measure of control within the party organization, which is supposed to remain an impartial umbrella organization for all Democratic presidential candidates.

Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination, repeatedly charged that the DNC under Wasserman Schultz was “rigged” in favor of Clinton.

“Debbie was not a good manager,” Brazile said in a book excerpt published by Politico. “She hadn’t been very interested in controlling the party —she let Clinton’s headquarters in Brooklyn do as it desired so she didn’t have to inform the party officers how bad the situation was.”

Wasserman Schultz declined to address the specific criticisms levied by Brazile in an emailed statement.

“It was a tremendous honor to be asked by President Obama to serve as chair of the DNC,” Wasserman Schultz said. “I am proud of the work our team did to support Democrats up and down the ballot in the 2016 election and to re-elect the President in 2012. With Donald Trump in the White House, Democrats must stay focused on enacting a progressive agenda to protect our citizens, our values and our democracy and remain united towards our goal of electing Democratic congressional majorities in 2018.”

Wasserman Schultz stepped down as DNC chairwoman in July 2016, after Wikileaks published thousands of stolen emails showing that the DNC favored Clinton over Sanders in the presidential primary. Brazile replaced her on an interim basis through the election.

Former labor secretary Tom Perez took over the DNC in February, and the organization has struggled to raise funds in 2017 as many Sanders supporters and progressives chose to invest in other organizations.

Wasserman Schulz isn’t the only politician Brazile criticizes in her tell-all book. She also called Clinton’s campaign “anemic” and said she seriously contemplated putting in motion a process to replace Clinton and her running mate Sen. Tim Kaine with then-Vice President Joe Biden as president and Sen. Cory Booker as vice president.

But she had a change of heart.

“I thought of Hillary, and all the women in the country who were so proud of and excited about her. I could not do this to them,” Brazile said.

More than 100 Clinton campaign staffers signed an open letter on Saturday that criticized Brazile’s account, saying they were “shocked” that Brazile ever contemplated replacing Clinton on the ticket.

“We are pretty tired of people who were not part of our campaign telling the world what it was like to be on the inside of our campaign and how we felt about it,” said former Clinton spokesperson Jesse Ferguson, who penned the letter. “The general election loss was devastating for us all and something we live with every day.”

Wasserman Schultz’s DNC leadership has long been a source of intraparty tension for Democrats. Tim Canova, a Broward law professor who challenged her for her congressional seat last year, repeatedly brought up the issue during his 2016 primary campaign. Wasserman Schultz ultimately won by 14 percentage points.

“DNC should apologize to Sanders & his supporters,” Canova tweeted after Brazile’s excerpt was released.

Canova is running against Wasserman Schutlz again in 2018, though Sanders said, “I know nothing about Tim Canova” in June after endorsing him last year.

Brazile is scheduled to appear at the Miami Book Fair on Nov. 15.