Members of Congress are rarely serious candidates for president. Of the Members of Congress with aspirations, only former Member of Congress Beto O’Rourke registers on the presidential seismographs. Take a look at him and the others – at my best effort at attempting to understand what kind of managers they are and might be.
Even the most powerful Senators have fewer employees than a big city mayor or a Cabinet Member. Senators actual work with other people is rarely visible. Senators don’t implement policy, don’t manage a lot of employees. Nevertheless, everything they do involves managing other people.
One of the Presidential candidates has been criticized for how she bosses. Look at the presidential candidates. Can we tell what kind of bosses they have been? Consider a mix of accomplishments and the implications of those accomplishments for how they worked as boss. For a few candidates, the most visible place where they bossed people was as a governor or other state official.
One of the Presidential candidates has been criticized for how she bosses. Look at the presidential candidates. Can you tell what kind of bosses they have been?
Jessica Ramos is an organizer and activist in Queens, NY. She has created a campaign for the state Senate that focuses on what would have passed with a Democratic majority in the Senate. She asserts that the parental leave and minimum wage increases would have just been a beginning had Democrats controlled the Senate.
Teacher and librarian, Julie Goldberg is neither apolitical nor focused on New Jersey. Her local cultural interests are in New York. She is a board member and editor for River River -- a New York community arts organization. She is a founding member of the Hungry Hollow Coalition. This New York community improvement group sponsors fund raising musicals and helps the homeless. It contests zoning issues and supports candidates. The Coalition does the candidate supporting bit in New York and does quite a lot of it. Goldberg is a beneficiary of that support in her run for the State Senate.
Kara Eastman has been CEO of the Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance (OHKA). Focused on combating lead poisoning, the organization expands its work by addressing the context in which lead poisoning happens. She was a surprise winner in the Democratic Primary taking on the incumbent Congressman.
Alessandra Biaggi is taking on the Democratic establishment, running in a primary against the head of the IDC. This role is unexpected. She interned for the King's County District Attorney's office, for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. and for Congressman Joseph Crowley of Queens, the Chair of the US House Democratic Caucus and of the Queens County Democratic Party. Look at Alessandra Biaggi’s jobs. She worked for Hillary Clinton, for Andrew Cuomo on women's policy issues. She worked for the Governor on the Executive Clemency team and on health and human service initiatives. She was a young member of the establishment before deciding to challenge it.
After college graduation, Abby Finkenauer spent nearly two years running for the state legislature. She cherishes the conversations she had with people as she went door to door campaigning for herself. The campaign itself, she thinks, was a right of passage, a process of becoming a genuine grown up taking on adult work. As a legislator in her twenties, Abby Finkenauer did the work. She sought relief for people with college loans, urged that people be able to testify about legislative proposals via the internet, and fought to protect women's right to control their bodies.
Zelmore Myrie's mother was an immigrant from Costa Rica. She raised him mostly alone, focusing on ensuring that he get the best possible education -- Brooklyn Tech. Fordham, Cornell Law School. He got a job is a large, New York firm, but his interest was politics.