In leaked email, California Assembly Speaker’s top aide blasts critics, defends boss

California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon just survived an epically horrible week. Will a leaked email from his chief of staff make things worse?

On Friday, Rendon’s top aide sent an all-staff email that could reignite criticism of Rendon’s decision to force a nursing mother — Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks of Oakland — to take in-person votes at the Capitol during a coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday, Wicks told CNN that she is also recovering from C-section surgery.

Rendon’s decision, perceived as cruel and sexist after video of Wicks holding her newborn baby on the Assembly floor went viral, drew scorn from a pantheon of critics including Wicks’ former boss, Hillary Clinton. He issued a public apology and pledged to do better.

His chief of staff, Carrie Cornwell, apparently has mixed feelings about the speaker’s mea culpa.

“I am sure you are receiving unwelcome comments from many,” wrote Cornwell to Rendon’s staff in an email obtained by The Sacramento Bee. “And if you are on social media or our phones, you are experiencing hatred and unkindness rain down on a man the commenters have never met, our boss, and ignorance displayed about a place they’ve never been but in which we work. I know that this has created difficulties for each of us, and I am sorry it is happening. I would love to get on Twitter and say what I think, but such is not the life of a legislative staffer....”

Some observations:

▪ Cornwell has done her boss a major disservice. By attacking his critics, she raised a big question: Who are these displaying ignoramuses she invokes? The many women who stood in solidarity with Wicks? Secretary Clinton and Twitter superstar Yashar Ali, who helped make the incident a national story?

▪ Another question: What is it that Cornwell really wants to say about Wicks and her allies? Does she think the episode was overblown? Does she believe her boss got “set up” like Nancy Pelosi in the hair salon?

▪ Finally, it doesn’t help that Cornwell bemoans the “difficulties” faced by her staff when it was Rendon’s decision to impose extra hardship on a nursing mother that unleashed the firestorm.

Rendon spokesperson Katie Talbot said in a statement that Cornwell’s message was not meant as pushback against Rendon’s critics. Instead, she said it simply addressed the “near-constant barrage of phone calls, emails, tweets, comments and social media posts that we have received since Monday night about this issue.”

“Some of these comments disagree with existing policies, like our very limited form of proxy voting that is specific to those currently impacted by COVID-19,” wrote Talbot. “Others are upset about perceived policies and procedures that are not true or have never happened. Examples include the Speaker allegedly forcing Members to be on the floor without their consent, or denying women maternity leave. These claims are absolutely inaccurate, and are specifically what Carrie means by ‘ignorance displayed about a place they’ve never been, but in which we work.’”

Talbot’s statement included a document listing 100 mean tweets about Rendon.

“You continue to embarrass your constituents,” said one.

“Any way you look at it, he’s a horrible person,” said another.

Talbot also singled out a piece by Bee columnist Marcos Bretón that harshly criticized Rendon and called on him to step aside and let a woman lead the Assembly. Talbot complained that Bretón “called the Speaker a ‘laughingstock,’ ‘thoughtless,’ ‘cruel,’ a male chauvinist, lacking in moral authority, lacking in leadership skills, ‘arrogant,’ ‘idiotic,’ and ‘vindictive,’ amongst other put-downs.”

It’s clear that Rendon and his staff endured a rough week and are not holding up gracefully under pressure. Unless Cornwell leaked the email herself, it would seem that someone on Rendon’s staff wasn’t happy about her misguided missive.

Cornwell’s email also delivered a passionate defense of her boss.

“It is embarrassing and infuriating to me as a mother, woman, and life-long legislative staffer that this institution and the man we work for would be portrayed so inaccurately,” she wrote.

She praised Rendon for keeping her on as his top aide after he became speaker in 2016.

“I am sure many advised him against it, no doubt telling him to get someone with more deal-making experience or a greater political bent,” she wrote. “He paid them no heed.”

Deal-making skills and political savvy are key qualifications for legislative leadership. Since some critics accuse Rendon of lacking those, it might be more advantageous to have a chief who can counterbalance his shortcomings.

At the very least, he needs someone who knows better than to scratch the scab off of what has become a national scandal.

Editor’s note: This column has been updated to reflect the fact that Asm. Wicks told CNN she is recovering from a C-section.

This story was originally published September 5, 2020 at 1:06 PM.