Is There Any More Wasserman Schultz Can Do To Destroy The Democratic Party? She's Working On It

Yesterday I posed a question to people who follow me on Twitter, asking them to put themselves in the place of a congressional candidate who could pick between 4 surrogates to come in and endorse them. I asked them to pick between Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, the handpicked post-Pelosi/Hoyer next leader Joe Crowley (Wall Street's #1 rep in the House) and a candidate who has never been elected to anything outside of his union, iron-worker Randy Bryce. Do the results surprise you?

Joe Crowley zero. I wish I had included Debbie Wasserman Schultz. I mean, is there any way of expressing less than zero? Yesterday was the anniversary of her being forced to resign as head of the DNC, too late for the party to save itself from the taint of her cheating in the presidential primaries. And she's still a member of Congress-- although perhaps not for long. And it goes beyond the vigorous primary campaign by progressive attorney Tim Canova-- whose campaign you can contribute to here. The FBI is now on to her.

Imran Awan has a top Wasserman Schultz IT aide since 2005. He still works for her in some capacity although she's being very squirrelly about what he does for her now that he's under criminal investigation. Several smashed hard drives, as well as some Wasserman Schultz-releated computer equipment, were seized by the FBI as part of an investigation that looks like it will further tarnish her already rot-gut reputation.

Awan and four other former congressional IT staffers are being investigated by U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI for “wide-ranging equipment and data theft.” Few details have been released since the investigation was first reported in February 2017, but many have speculated that Wasserman Schultz is involved due to a tense exchange between her and the U.S. Capitol police chief over a laptop from her office being held as evidence. Last week, Wasserman Schultz finally cooperated with authorities to grant them access to a laptop, though it’s uncertain if the laptop in question is the same laptop Wasserman Schultz argued with the U.S. Capitol police chief over. Awan clearly went to great lengths to cover his tracks, but it’s unclear what his motives were.

After resigning in disgrace from the DNC, the investigation into Wasserman Schultz’s former IT aide has further tarnished her reputation. Despite her efforts to revive her image by focusing on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, the former DNC chair is still seen as a corrupt, out of touch politician who represents the worst of the Democratic Party. Her continued presence in Democratic leadership impedes the party’s reform and ensures that voters’ lack of trust for Democrats-- which stemmed from her leadership at the DNC-- remains.

Imran and his two brothers, Abid and Jamal and their wives, are being investigated for a number of crimes, from overcharging taxpayers for congressional IT equipment to blackmailing members of Congress with secrets captured from emails. The Awans have been paid something like $5 million by Wasserman Schultz and other Democrats who used their services at tax payer expense.

So far there's a lot of smoke-- much of it being generated by partisan Republican trolls-- and no actual proof of any crimes tied Wasserman Schultz. But knowing what a slimy character she's always been, I'm in wait-and-see mode of this one. As for the party brand she tarnished so badly... it's going total a lot of effort to fix that-- beyond the Papa John's Pizza slogan. Oh, and last night Politico reported that Awan was arrested on bank fraud as he was trying to leave the country for his native Pakistan. So... the narrative moves along. (Wassermann Schultz claims she finally fired him on Tuesday... before he was arrested.)