There is trouble on Capitol Hill! On Thursday, Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chairwoman Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán fired the organization’s executive director, Jacky Usyk. Usyk is not the first member of the organization’s staff to part ways in recent months. Prior to Barragán’s appointment, three staffers left between December and January. Earlier this week, four more staffers walked away from their positions with the caucus. As a result, the CHC reportedly has no active staffers on its payroll.
“This debacle unfolding at the CHC doesn’t bode well for the Caucus and for Congresswoman Barragán, who fired a well-liked staffer a month into the start of the new Congress,” an anonymous Democratic strategist said, per The Hill.
Barragán isn’t new to staff turnover. Per Leigstorm, the congresswoman’s personal office has had the third-highest turnover of any person in congress from 2001 through 2021. More recent reports from The Hill indicate that she has earned a “reputation among staffers that she is hard to work for.” Making matters worse, it appears there are discussions about removing her from her position within the CHC.
“She has a hard time keeping staff in her personal office. Those concerns seem real given that all CHC staff left (because they did not want to work for her), and CHC is currently understaffed,” on Congressional Hispanic Caucus lawmaker told CBS News.
“The staff that are there are unhappy, so concerns about whether the effectiveness of the caucus is hurt by the way she treats staff is real.”
