So what I’m getting is Chuck doesn’t want to share power or credit. He’s hoarding all the toys and throwing shit at the walls.

I think Chuck's staff first and foremost is terrified of displeasing Chuck Schumer or doing something that will cause him to hear they did something that draws attention to him in a way that he doesn't like. But he does also have some flexibility in things. He's down to try stuff.

Bit late for that, it'd seem...

When I hear this, I'm glad, in a way, that the toxicity of private workplaces also exists in government. Misery loves company and all that. "Terrified of displeasing the boss" always results in organizational failures. Always.

Just as an example, Bernie's office bugged him and Reid before him about buying a ton of high end communications equipment which they did and it was all almost exclusively used by Sanders office. In fact, it played quite a role in his rise on social media. Not what most people expect eh?

Appreciate the reply! But honestly, it’s only slightly less ridiculous and frustrating than my first impression. Why shouldn’t they have modern equipment? Why did they have to nag to get it? Schumer cannot meet this moment.

Oh this is not a Schumer defense thread whatsoever lol.

I hear you, no question there. You seem like you just want to be fair.

His current crop of leadership is particularly bad. But it wasn't always like this and that matters a lot. When I first got to the senate, they were often incompetent but they did a very good job listening to feedback. Was a LOT more give and take.

That really matters because in the senate, there aren't many spaces for digital people to exchange ideas and improve. And each individual office's resources pale in comparison to Schumer's insane budget. But then those people left and new folks came in a lot more hostile to collaboration.

This manifests itself in different ways. For instance, let us say Schumer's office sends crap talking points. If I have a good relationship with their person sending them, I can say "Hey, these aren't very good. Are you sure you want to focus on this? Lots of folks don't like this."

And if they are cool they will say "Thanks for telling me, I'll try to do better next time and maybe you want to come talk to our team about this issue?" Progress!

As opposed to me saying the same thing, but having to be even more cautious in my words, and then getting back "Thanks Gabe! Will take a look!" without any followup.

Another example. If I wanted us to bring in a speaker to talk to the caucus, the old leadership was really easy to do this with. They would be happy that I suggested something. The new crop would pretend there were scheduling conflicts and I'd have to do massive pressure campaigns.

One of my final projects that I never was able to accomplish because of how annoying Schumer's office was being was creating an internal wiki so that newbie staffers could more quickly get onboarded with all the amazing tools available in Congress for telling digital stories. Barrier after barrier.

For all the talk about corruption and donors and blah blah it really does matter a lot what is happening in the actual building still. And the culture is just so oppressive, so unopen to collaboration and new ideas. It's playing a huge role in whatever the fuck they are doing now.

There is a balance here. You can't listen to feedback all the time and in a place like Congress, people got their own agendas that need to be contextualized for why they push for things. But the "ignore the pleebs as much as possible" position is not working for leadership or the rank and file.

Can someone tell Schumer that literally nobody wants him to keep supporting Trump and it’s making everyone hate his guts forever? Thanks!

Really? "Here's something that could help literally every new staffer do their job better and get up to speed faster, making every Senate office more effective in communicating. Can we meet really quick?" "Neat, but you see there's this thing this week..." Fucking clowns

This one was so fucking stupid. I honestly couldn't believe they were putting barriers. I literally never suggested projects that they did not benefit from substantially. The wiki was going to be hosted on their own servers and administered by them for chrissakes?

But it wasn't their idea and maybe if all these staffers suddenly knew stuff they would ask for more things heaven forbid. Such a difficult decision.

Wonder if that's the problem. "You mean we need to learn how to manage the wiki and update our servers to host this/give proper permissions to users? Sorry, my brain can't handle any new information, I'm afraid we won't be able to do any work on this"

@ariellaelm.bsky.social

I have him blocked for a reason