Julie Gallagher and Ann Parangot, correspondents
COLLEGE PARK – Democratic National Committee emails leaked Friday by Wikileaks revealed that party staff was working to undermine Bernie Sanders鈥� presidential campaign.
The leak brought down party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and threw the first day of the Democratic National Convention into disarray. It also revealed that party staffers had some pretty interesting things to say about Maryland and some of its elected leaders.
Here are the five most interesting things Capital 太子探花 Service found in the staff emails 鈥� everything from disparaging remarks on an Eastern Shore town to openly cheering for one candidate in Maryland鈥檚 contested Democratic Senate primary.
(We left a message seeking comment with the Democratic Party on the emails included in this story.)
1) A top staffer called Cambridge, Maryland, a 鈥渟hitty town.鈥�
National Finance Director Jordan Kaplan was asked by a colleague in May about his visit to Cambridge, on Maryland鈥檚 Eastern Shore.
鈥淚t was fine. Shitty town and were(sic) only stayed for a few hours. We spent the night in Annapolis.鈥�
2) A party official called news of former Maryland Gov. Martin O鈥橫alley鈥檚 presidential campaign fundraiser 鈥渏ust sad.鈥�
After he ended his quixotic bid for the presidency, O鈥橫alley held an 鈥淚rish Wake鈥� to raise money to pay down his campaign debt. DNC Mid-Atlantic Finance Director Alexandra Shapiro forwarded a POLITICO article about the event to a colleague, writing, 鈥淭his is just sad鈥︹��
3) The party鈥檚 top spokesman called either O鈥橫alley or the Baltimore Sun鈥檚 Washington correspondent a 鈥渏oke.鈥�
Baltimore Sun Washington correspondent John Fritze emailed the DNC requesting information about how moderators determined how many questions to ask each candidate during Democratic primary debates.
In forwarding the message to colleagues to determine how to respond, a staffer noted that Fritze鈥檚 query came after complaints from O鈥橫alley that he 鈥渄idn鈥檛 get enough time鈥� during debates with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Party Communications Director Luis Miranda responded: 鈥淗ilarious. What a joke that guy is. You can tell (Fritze) on background that it’s entirely up to the networks and leave it at that.鈥�
It鈥檚 unclear whether Miranda was calling Fritze or O鈥橫alley a joke.
4) The DNC tried to use Maryland鈥檚 Steny Hoyer to combat suggestions that the party was in the tank for Hillary Clinton.
A reporter for The Hill asked the DNC to comment on allegations by former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner that the party mistreated Bernie Sanders during the primaries. Miranda suggested the reporter interview Hoyer to 鈥渂alance out Nina鈥檚 perspective.鈥� Hoyer, an outspoken supporter of Hillary Clinton, 鈥渃ould give you a very different perspective,鈥� Miranda wrote.
5) A staffer called Rep. Chris Van Hollen鈥檚 win in the Democratic Senate primary over a fellow Democrat 鈥渟o beautiful.鈥�
A colleague sent Scott Comer, the party鈥檚 finance chief of staff, a link to a tweet noting that Van Hollen had won a hotly contested battle for the Senate seat left open by the retirement of Sen. Barbara Mikulski. Comer鈥檚 response from his iPhone: 鈥淪o beautiful.鈥�
