OFA shaking up leadership
Organizing for Action (OFA), the nonprofit group that grew from President Obama’s reelection campaign, is shaking up its leadership, with Director Jon Carson leaving the organization.
Carson, who left his job as the director of the Office of Public Engagement at the White House to take over OFA, will turn over the reins to Sara El-Amine, the organization’s national grassroots organizing director.
{mosads}Abby Witt, who served as the group’s deputy national issues campaign director, has been named the group’s new managing director. Jennifer Warner, OFA’s current deputy national organizing director, and OFA’s director of training, Ashley Pinedo, will also be promoted to the group’s leadership team.
“These new leadership positions strengthen OFA’s ability to empower grassroots volunteers to become even better organizers in their communities, engage their networks with information about getting affordable health coverage and make their voices heard,” OFA spokeswoman Katie Hogan said in a statement.
Carson is departing to work at a solar company, he told The Huffington Post in an interview Tuesday. But he’s expected to retain a role in the group, becoming a co-chairman with former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.
The group has seen donor dollars — and influence — wane during the midterm elections. Last quarter, OFA raised $1.8 million — less than half the $3.87 million brought in over the previous three months, which was already a record low for the group.
It shed half its paid staff and stopped soliciting high-dollar contributions ahead of the midterms out of concern it would siphon dollars away from Democratic candidates.
The group also came under criticism during Carson’s tenure from Republicans and political watchdog groups, which accused it of selling access to the president.
In March, Samantha Maltzman, a top fundraiser for the group, resigned from the organization, after NBC News obtained emails between her and Dr. Munr Kazmir, a New Jersey businessman, explicitly listing prices to attend a summit with the president.
The emails conflicted with a pledge by Messina, who wrote in an op-ed last year that “we can’t and we won’t guarantee access to any government officials.”
In response to the revelations, OFA sent an internal memo to staff reiterating that no member of the group is authorized to offer supporters opportunities to meet with administration officials, or suggest that a donation to the group is a prerequisite to attend summits featuring administration officials, including the president.
Despite the bumps, the group hopes to ramp back up after the elections, including a push during the second ObamaCare open enrollment period.
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“OFA will focus on the key strategies that produced a highly successful first enrollment period and maximize our extensive grassroots network and digital strength to support the efforts of partner organizations engaged in enrolling the uninsured,” Hogan said.
The group also plans to expand a fellowship program during which volunteers undergo a three-month training program in an effort to groom organizers that will help the president’s political efforts.
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