Female DNC staff ‘bullied,’ letter says
Host committee leaders on leave after concerns
The decision to sideline the two leaders of Milwaukee’s host committee for the 2020 Democratic National Convention came after top female staffers complained to the board of being “bullied and intimidated,” leading to “toxic and unstable” working conditions.
In a Jan. 30 letter obtained by the Journal Sentinel, a group of senior women from the Milwaukee 2020 Host Committee raised serious concerns about Adam Alonso, the chief of staff, and his boss, Liz Gilbert, president of the organization. The women do not identify themselves in the letter.
“Adam Alonso has consistently bullied and intimidated staff members, but of note is that this is primarily directed at the women on staff,” says the note, which was verified by one of the individuals who worked on it.
“(This is) resulting in a culture that coddles male senior advisors and consultants who have no clear role or clear lines of management. His mismanagement of the Host Committee, enabled by Liz Gilbert, has created a toxic and unstable working environment that we will not allow to continue.”
The board of the host committee announced Monday in a letter to its staff that it had launched an investigation into concerns of a possible toxic work culture.
The letter said Alonso has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the probe. Gilbert has been told to stay away from the office and staff during the investigation. Both will be paid while an attorney for Foley & Lardner looks into the complaints.
“These are serious concerns that demand a serious investigation,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said in a statement Tuesday. “Everyone working to make this convention a success deserves a leadership team of unquestioned integrity.”
Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said Tuesday he did not know “the particulars of what’s going on” with the accusations. But Sheehy added, “Because of its distance to the convention, the issue is time-sensitive, and we’d like to see a swift and fair resolution.”
Sheehy also expressed confidence in the work being done by the host committee. The MMAC is helping to back the convention and is raising
money for the event.
Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said, “It’s a core value that everybody should be safe and respected in their workplace.
“We have every reason to take these disturbing allegations seriously,” he said.
Wikler added that “assuming the swift, thorough and fair investigation bears out the profoundly concerning allegations that have been raised, the host committee board should bring in new leadership that can reset the culture and refocus on creating a terrific convention.”
In a statement Monday, Alonso said he was proud of the team he has created on the host committee and will cooperate with the investigation. Gilbert has not commented.
The two have previously come under criticism for continuing to do work for New Jersey Democrats while leading the host committee full time. The New Jersey Democratic Party dumped Alonso from his $15,000-per-month consulting gig late Monday.
This staff upheaval at the host committee comes less than six months before the start of the Democratic National Convention. The host committee — the civic, nonpartisan arm of the convention — is responsible for raising $70 million to stage the July event at Fiserv Forum and rounding up some 15,000 volunteers.
In their letter, the senior women said the host committee has no human resources department, so they were turning to board members for help.
“We write to inform you of our experiences with the President and Chief of Staff of Milwaukee 2020 with the hope that an unwavering change will be made,” the women wrote in the letter.
They said the work environment was “toxic and insular” and that the two top managers discourage “honest feedback and discourse.”
“This has significantly impacted staff morale resulting in a fear of retribution and lack of trust among not only senior but junior staff as well,” the letter said.
“Since November, complaints of this nature were brought to the attention of Liz Gilbert, who has gone on to defend him,” it continued. “Our challenges have been entirely dismissed.”
One of the authors of the note said she had recently made the decision to leave the host committee. At least three others have left the organization as well, something one source said is highly unusual for a host committee.
The letter concludes by saying the problems are affecting female staffers throughout the organization: “Several junior women have approached us distraught and fearful, not knowing where else to turn.”
Over the weekend, the Journal Sentinel contacted the host committee over workplace concerns expressed by two others who have worked with the group. Neither individual was involved in writing the letter.
In interviews, the two experienced political hands described the host committee as having a toxic culture rife with power struggles, backbiting and mismanagement.
They accused Gilbert and Alonso of giving contracts to their friends in New Jersey, calling meetings and then failing to attend them and being more focused on accumulating power than promoting Milwaukee.
A New Jersey firm with strong ties to the New Jersey Democratic Party, for instance, developed the website for the host committee and manages its email platform. Both Gilbert and Alonso are top-ranking Democratic operatives in that state.
“It’s one of the worst — if not the worst — I have worked on,” the first official said of the host committee.
The second official said they no longer have high hopes for the host committee. “The spirit of what it could be for the city might be lost,” said the second official.
The two sources no longer work with the host committee, which is officially nonpartisan so it can raise money as a tax-deductible, nonprofit organization. They asked that their names not be used because they feared retribution and work in a specialized field.
Sources said it appears that these current and former employees have been emboldened to speak out after Alonso was accused in his home state of New Jersey of shaking down campaign contributors for his own consulting firm, the Cratos Group.
Julie Roginsky, a former strategist for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, said Murphy’s gubernatorial campaign operation was “toxic” and that she experienced “rank misogyny.”
She has also said lobbyists told her during the 2018 campaign that Alonso and the campaign manager were pressing the lobbyists for private business.
Alonso has denied the claims, as has the governor.
“Gov. Murphy required all campaign staffers to disclose any and all relevant business relationships in New Jersey,” Alonso said. “I disclosed my politicalbusiness relationships, they were reviewed by campaign counsel, and they complied with campaign policies.”
Alonso also rejected any suggestion that he played a role in creating a toxic work environment on the gubernatorial campaign.
“To be clear, Julie has not alleged that I engaged in any such behavior,” he said. “Regarding her allegations against a colleague of ours, those were investigated by campaign counsel, and our colleague apologized.”
Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.