Hours before the second Democratic debate was set to begin, Ifeoma Ike, the former senior adviser for Dianne Morales’s campaign, announced that she had joined Maya Wiley’s team in the same capacity.
“Much love to my former team fighting for all the right things,” read her tweet announcing the change. “20 days left.” She elaborated on her decision in a blog post for The Grio.
Ms. Ike and Whitney Hu, Ms. Morales’s campaign manager, resigned last week following a storm of accusations of staff misconduct, discrimination and an unhealthy work environment. The exits were a protest against what they considered the candidate’s mishandling of personnel issues.
“I’m proud of the work I’ve done,” wrote Ms. Ike in a tweet last week. “I’m proud of the work we’ve done. I am formally resigning from the campaign as it no longer aligns with my values.”
The sudden resignations of the two senior staffers left the Morales staff in chaos. Remaining aides launched a unionization effort for the final weeks of the campaign. But soon after, four employees, all involved in the unionization efforts, were terminated without a clear explanation. The employees who are left have staged a walkout until those staff members are reinstated.
Left-leaning voters may find themselves choosing between Ms. Morales and Ms. Wiley on the ballot. In recent months, Ms. Wiley has said that she would rank Ms. Morales second under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, which enables voters to select five candidates in order of preference. After news of the staff implosion, Ms. Wiley declined to say if that was still the case.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
