Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's controversial chief of staff steps down

SCREEN CAPTURE / ABC

Saikat Chakrabarti leaving Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's staff.

The Chief of staff to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Saikat Chakrabarti, will be leaving his post after a series of tweets that angered moderate Democrats.

“Saikat has decided to leave the office of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to work with New Consensus to further develop plans for a Green New Deal,” communications director Corbin Trent said in a statement to The Intercept, which first reported the news. Trent will also be leaving his position to join the congresswoman's campaign staff.

“We are extraordinarily grateful for his service to advance a bold agenda and improve the lives of the people in NY-14. From his co-founding of Justice Democrats to his work on the Ocasio-Cortez campaign and in the official office, Saikat’s goal has always been to do whatever he can to help the larger progressive movement, and we look forward to continuing working with him to do just that,” said Trent.

Chakrabarti, an Indian American, who represented the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party, was made Politico’s “Power List,” of people to watch in 2019. The list, Politico says, “highlights politicians, activists and operatives across the country who are positioned to play a critical role in the political landscape leading up to 2020.”

Chakrabarti, 33, worked in Silicon Valley before joining the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016 where he met Trent and Oacasio-Cortez. 

He angered some of Ocasio-Cortez’s Congressional peers early in July when he took to Twitter and comparee some moderate Democrats to southern segregationists.

“Instead of ‘fiscally conservative but socially liberal,’ let’s call the New Democrats and Blue Dog Caucus the ‘New Southern Democrats,’ ” Chakrabarti wrote in a tweet that is now deleted. “They certainly seem hell bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s.”

Chakrabarti made a veiled allegation of racism against When Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.)  voted in late June for a bipartisan bill to appropriate money to government operations on the southern border. Chakrabarti said of Davids: “Her votes are showing her to enable a racist system.”

That tweet drew an angry response from the official House Democrats’ Twitter account, which is managed by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-Brooklyn: “Who is this guy and why is he explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color?”

Chakrabarti's Twitter activity was one of the reasons that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a message to Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ocasio-Cortez, cautioning them on their social media comments.

That led to a one-on-one meeting a week ago between Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez to defuse the tension between the progressive and moderate Democrats.On Friday (July 2) he departures of Chakrabarti and Trent were announced. Chakrabarti leaves immediately but Trent's last day hasn't been announced.

According to Ocasio-Cortez’s office, the departures are not a result of the dust-up with leadership, and were decided well before the public feuds took place.

Sunday Read: Hawaiian candidate hopes to repeat Ocasio-Cortez upset victory

FACEBOOK / KANIELA ING

Hawaii State Rep. Kaniela Ing with his wife and child at a rally protesting Donald Trump's refugee policies.

COME AUGUST 11, will the media and political establishment sing the praises of Kaniela Ing in the same way surprised pundits across the country did when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upset Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley in New York City?

Like Ocasio-Cortez, Ing is a newcomer and running to represent the Democrats in the crowded November primary race for Congressional District 1. He is seen as long shot against Lt. Gov. Doug Chin and former Congressman Ed Case.

As a a member of the Democratic Socialists of America,  Ing makes it clear that not only is he running against the Republican Party and Donald Trump, he's also running against the big corporate donors to the Democratic machine.

Hawaii's Primary:
August 11,
7 a.m.-6 p.m.

“It’s easy to blame Republicans, to blame Trump for our problems, but we have to look in the mirror,” Ing says in a new ad as images of luxury hotel and condo development in Hawaii flash across the screen. “Who controls our state? Who controls our party?”

Means of Production, the Detroit-based media company that produced the ad is the same one that produced the beautiful and inspirational video ad that went viral and propelled  Ocasio-Cortez to her victory produced Ing's new ad, which he hopes will produced similar surprising results.

Ing's platform is very similar to Ocasio-Cortez's: "Medicare for all, free college and bold action on climate change."

His ad, “A New Possible,” also dips into the growing independence movement among Native Hawaiians and the racial diversity that is the hallmark of the island state by NOT ignoring the darker side of Hawaii's historic legacy of colonialism and farm worker strikes against the giant pineapple and sugar cane plantations.

“I just had to get in Hawaii’s history and share our vision,” Ing told Mic. “You grow up in Hawaii and you’re taught to be nostalgic of the simpler time of the plantation. It’s revisionist history. ... People were shot and killed during the workers uprisings and we should really be nostalgic for that history of struggle.”

“When you’re Hawaiian in politics, they tell you to avoid that part of your identity … Hawaiians aren’t reliable voters," Ing told Mic. "Folks who are reliable voters do not really empathize with indigenous struggles here. So, they say, ‘Don’t use your Hawaiian name. Don’t talk about Hawaiian issues.’ But you know, I’m defying that. I’m gonna do me. Throughout my career, it’s been refreshing for a lot of folks that I’m not running from [my] identity.”

"Our family stems from Hawaiian, Filipino, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Dutch, Irish, and Swedish roots," Ing posted on Facebook.

"My Native Hawaiian ancestors were whipped for simply speaking their language and praying to their gods. This goes for my Buddhist and Christian ancestors too. It was the modern American promise -- that people should be judged on merit, hard work, and heart rather than race, creed, and religion -- that ultimately gave my mixed-race son, Laguna, a shot at life."

Ing faces an uphill battle ahead of Hawaii’s Aug. 11 Democratic primary. A May poll found him running in fourth place in a crowded field of five candidates, despite coming in first with voters under the age of 50. Since then, Case, threw his hat in the ring..

Nevertheless, Ing is not afraid of going against the oddsmakers. Political prognosticators were saying the same things when he first ran for Hawaii's House of Representatives six years ago. "We were outspent about 10-to-1, but still won by a huge 26 percent," says Ing.

“I feel really good about the movement we’ve built,” Ing said of his grass-roots campaign.

“We have, by far, the most volunteers. We have people knocking on doors every single day, making phone calls and texts,” he said. “We have over 9,000 individual donors. The previous record for this district was 1,700. It’s unprecedentedly grassroots.”

The odds might be against Ing's chances, but that was the same scenario that Ocasio-Cortez was in before her election. He hopes to surprise some people.

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