A number of former staffers of presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D.,Minn.) released a letter supporting the embattled senator in the wake of reports that she has a history of being abusive towards her staff.
However, many of the individuals who signed the letter defending Klobuchar never worked out of the senator's Washington, D.C. office, where the abuse occurred. Klobuchar is said to have an explosive and unpredictable temper, being prone to fits of rage, and being "habitually demeaning and prone to bursts of cruelty" that made it difficult to work on her office for an extended period of time.
The letter from the former staffers, which was posted to Medium this week by Erick Garcia Luna, one of the former employees, is only two paragraphs long and paints Klobuchar in a much different light than the reports that have surfaced in recent weeks recounting staff horror stories.
"We previously worked for Senator Klobuchar and some of us were among the former staffers contacted by the New York Times and other media outlets to share our experiences about working in her office," the letter states. "Unfortunately, the positive anecdotes and stories we experienced have not been fully reported by the Times and other media. We do not believe these reports adequately describe our thoughts on Amy Klobuchar, many of which we shared with the authors."
"Amy would be there for us after a loss in the family or help make an important call instrumental to our careers," the letter continues. "She'd celebrate our professional accomplishments and be part of our lives, whether it was dancing at our weddings or visiting us after we brought our newborns home. She was there for us in the hard times, too. And at the office, she pushed us to be better professionals and public servants. We remain grateful for our time in Senator Klobuchar's office and still consider Amy a mentor and friend. Sadly, this was not fully conveyed in the recent news reports."
The letter was then signed by 61 individuals. All told, 30 of the 61 individuals who signed the letter never worked in her Washington office, according to a review of publicly available staff information posted on Legistorm, a government tracking website.
Some of the individuals do not appear in the directory because they worked with Klobuchar as she was serving as Hennepin County attorney before entering Congress. Klobuchar served in this position from the late-1990s to mid-2000s.
Others worked as a staffer on one her campaigns or were stationed at her regional office in Minneapolis.
Of the 31 staffers who did work in the D.C. office and signed the letter, at least three worked in the office for five or fewer months.
Legistorm additionally shows that Klobuchar has 200 former staffers who have worked in either her regional or D.C. offices since 2006, when she was elected to the Senate. Just 43 of those individuals—or 22 percent—signed the letter supporting her in the wake of the abuse reports.
Klobuchar has defended herself against the reports of abuse by saying that she can be tough on her staff due to having high expectations.
Below is a breakdown of the former staffers who are included in the letter by where they worked for the presidential candidate.
Hennepin County – Before entering Congress
Lane Ayers
David Brown
Mark Chapin
David Hough
Jim Jacobson
Andy LeFevour
Martin Munic
Howard Orenstein
Dan Rogan
Susan Segal
Lolita Ulloa
Jodie Wiermaa
Campaign Staff
Ben Alsdurf
Aram Desteian
Matt Freeman
Becky Groen
Tom Perron
Zack Stephenson
Twin Cities/Metro Regional Office Staff
Deb Calvert
Sam Clark
Kali Cruz
Dave Frederickson
Megan Lahr
Martin Ludden
Eric Garcia Luna
Erica Nelson
Charlie Poster
Zach Rodvold
Megan Scannel Sharp
Jake Spano
Klobuchar's D.C. Staff
Jonathan Becker
Gabe Bluesome – Only 4 months in office/position
Paula Breuer – Only 2 months in office/position
Tristan Brown
Ross Corson
Sarah Elkins Craighill
Tamara Fucile
Christopher Garcia
Andrew Hu
Craig Kalkut
Nick Kimball
Anne Knapke
Matt Manning
Christi Meyer
Andrea Mokros
Tim Molino
Hanna Quinn
Joe Radosevich
Sean Richardson – Only 5 months in office/position
Kaleb Rumicho
Asal Sayas
Jon Schwietzer
Kristin Sharp
Lee Sheehy
Jack Sullivan
Rose Sullivan
Tom Sullivan
Mychael Vlatkovich
Tommy Walker
Emma Yonquist
Paul Zygmunt