Clinton camp measured diversity, considered fallout
WASHINGTON — Senior staff members on Hillary Clinton’s nascent campaign were conscious about diversity in the top ranks two months before the Democratic presidential candidate formally announced her bid, according to hacked emails from the account of a top campaign official.
In February 2015, Clinton lawyer and chief of staff Cheryl Mills sent a list of potential hires to campaign chairman John Podesta. Among the suggestions was “Political Director-Hispanic Woman.” They eventually hired Amanda Renteria, who is Latina.
Mills sent “Robby’s List of the top 10 or so positions,” referring to Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook. The email breaks it down: “4 ‘POC,’ ” or people of color, “4 Women (assuming COO is a white woman)” and “6 White Men.”
So, the email says, that is “33% diverse, 33% women, 50% white men.”
The email was among more than 3,000 released by WikiLeaks on Monday. The notes were stolen from Podesta’s email account as part of a series of computer hacks of Democratic targets that U.S. intelligence officials say were orchestrated by Russia, which has denied the allegations.
The campaign officials’ focus on diversity came in the same month that Clinton’s advisers circulated data collected from her family’s foundation that found only three of the foundation’s 11 highest-paid employees were women — and a Democratic consultant expressed concern about political fallout.
Emails released last week about the Clinton Foundation highlighted a large disparity in the median salaries of the top-paid men and women working for the organization.
According to the emails, the median salary of the highest paid men at the foundation was $346,106, while the median salary of the highest paid women was $185,386.
“There are huge discrepancies, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they (the media) went here next,” Ian Mandel, a Democratic consultant, wrote.
Hacked emails also show that Clinton’s aides considered inserting jokes about her private email server into her speeches — and at least one joke made it into her remarks. “I love it,” she told a dinner in Iowa on Aug. 14, 2015, noting she had opened an online account with Snapchat, which deletes posts automatically. “Those messages disappear all by themselves.”