Ranking figure in the vice president’s office marks most recent in string of staffers to exit Harris’ team.
QUICK FACTS:
- Vice President Kamala Harris’ Chief of Staff, Tina Flournoy, will be leaving her position in the Vice President’s office sometime in the spring, according to CNN.
- Flournoy has been with Harris since she formed her vice-presidential staff, and led the group through troubling times last year.
- Most notably, Harris has drawn scrutiny for what some staffers called a “dysfunctional” or “hostile” work environment, which some believe has led to the constant turnover of staffers working for the VP.
- Some estimations put the number of departures at an even dozen, making it a little less than onc a month, on average, with at least three making the decision to leave since the start of the year.
FLOURNOY’S ANNOUNCEMENT:
- In an email to staff, Flournoy said she was “eternally grateful to the vice president for giving me this amazing opportunity,” and thanked the team.
- “It had been my intention to speak to all of you individually to let you know that I will soon be leaving the Vice President’s Office and my role as Chief of Staff,” she wrote, noting that news of her exit may break before she could do so.
- “I will, however, be talking to you in the coming days. I will say then — in much more poetic language, no doubt — that it has been an honor to work for the Vice President and a great joy to get to know Kamala Harris and see first hand the great passion she brings to her job.”
- Harris responded to the news that Flournoy was leaving her office, saying that she was a “valued advisor and confidant” and that she led the team through a “historic first year,” promising to continue to rely on her for “advice, counsel, and friendship.”
BACKGROUND:
- Reports indicate that Flournoy will be replaced by veteran Democratic communications strategist Lorraine Voles, who joined the Harris team as an adviser last year.
- Voles plans to focus her efforts on “organizational development, strategic communications, and long-term planning,” an official told reporters.
