By Zachary Gorchow
President of Michigan Operations
Posted: September 18, 2018 5:14 PM

Democratic attorney general candidate Dana Nessel, faced with allegations from former campaign staffers that she has created a verbally abusive environment that has led to repeated staff resignations and firings, is not addressing the claims head on.

Ms. Nessel, who declined our requests for an interview to respond to the allegations, instead issued a prepared statement calling the whole thing a "ridiculous and desperate ploy" by her Republican opponent, House Speaker Tom Leonard, "to distract the media and voters from the fact that Dana Nessel is up by double digits in the polls."

Except, this was not a Leonard planted story. Former Nessel staffers came forward. And the turnstile nature of Ms. Nessel's approach to press secretaries had started to become apparent in recent weeks when Ken Coleman replaced Lucas Bezerra and then Brian Stone replaced Mr. Coleman. Mr. Stone was then fired last week just days into the job and some of the former staffers, speaking on background, revealed that there had been repeated turnover in the campaign manager post as well.

Campaigns can be inherently chaotic and internally fraught with tension. To have former staffers, however, publicly describing the candidate in such acerbic terms (even as all said they would still vote for her over Mr. Leonard) is unusual. And a coup for Mr. Leonard, who needs to try to separate himself from the Democratic momentum building toward the election.

In refusing to directly address the controversy, Ms. Nessel might be hoping to avoid inflaming the story. But in falling back on the ol' "My opponent is attacking because he's behind" strategy, Ms. Nessel runs the risk of what to say if at some point the polls show Mr. Leonard gaining ground on her. Further, at some point in this race, whether in debates or interviews, Ms. Nessel will have to discuss what happened in her own words, not through a written statement.

Generally, the "speak from a prepared statement amid crisis strategy" ends poorly for a candidate.