Abandoning a sinking ship -- more times than not -- is a good decision. Jumping aboard, not so much.
That's what crossed our minds yesterday when we heard U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman's campaign manager had bailed on the campaign and had been replaced.
Today, just a day after announcing he was replacing his campaign manager, there are reports that Glassman's lost another member of his staff.
The latest to bail on the Glassman campaign: Kevin Bondelli, the campaign's new media director.
Bondelli is the fourth person to bail on Glassman since mid-July and, as we mentioned earlier in the month, his departure is reportedly thanks to the way Glassman has been managing the campaign and treating staffers.
Glassman campaign spokeswoman Tina May didn't immediately return our call this afternoon, but the Arizona Capitol Times is reporting today that "sources close to the campaign" say Bondelli's leaving for the same reasons the other three left: to paraphrase,
Glassman's kind of a jerk.
The Cap Times story echoes things we've been hearing from our own "sources close to the campaign."
Here's a taste of what our sources told Feathered Bastard:
These sources relayed a litany of complaints about the Glassman campaign, from Glassman berating staffers and volunteers in public, even yelling at them, to Glassman's having his brother Jeremy play a major role in the campaign (doing little or nothing, they say), and the fact that Glassman and his minions gave Democrats reason to believe he would sink millions into his bid for Senate.
Sources also claim staffers were upset by a homophobic remark the former Tucson city councilman and onetime registered Republican reportedly made about a gay city
councilwoman, saying that, "The toughest thing for me to do will be to sit next to an openly gay councilmember."
Glassman denied making the statement to the Arizona Daily Star, but the councilwoman in question, Karin Uhlich, told the Star that the report was accurate.
Reputedly the scion of a California agricultural dynasty, Glassman has loaned his campaign $500,000, far short of the millions Democrats were led to think he'd spend.
"Rodney has marketed himself as a multi-million dollar self-funder since last fall," one Democratic party insider said. "[We were told] that he had anywhere from three to five million dollars to put into this race."
In an e-mail to May, we gave her a chance to dispute any of these claims. But, again, she never got back to us.
There is some good news for anyone who's good with new media and is interested in climbing aboard a sinking ship: there's a job opening at the Rodney Glassman campaign.
