Top Carson staffers resign

[Valin]

The Hill:

Jonathan Easley

Dec. 31 2015

 

Ben Carson’s top aides have resigned, casting the retired neurosurgeon’s campaign into chaos just a month before the Iowa caucuses.


 

Carson’s campaign manager Barry Bennett and communications director Doug Watts announced Thursday they will leave the team. In an exit interview with The Hill, Bennett blamed Carson’s close friend and adviser Armstrong Williams for a handful of political missteps and accused him of railroading the retired neurosurgeon’s White House bid.

 

“I called Ben this morning…and explained to him the root of the problem is that you told me Armstrong is not involved in the campaign but he clearly is,” Bennett said. “My frustration level is boiling over so I told him I think it’s best that I leave." Bennett said he believes “a lot more” staffers will follow him out the door and predicted the campaign team will be “decimated.”

 

Williams does not have an official role with the campaign, but he’s a longtime friend of Carson’s and has his ear on everything from politics to business deals to life. Williams, who often sets up media interviews for Carson without the campaign’s knowledge, and the top advisers have been on a collision course for some time.

 

Things came to a head last week when Williams arranged for several media outlets to interview Carson at his Maryland home, and Carson openly mused about a staff shake-up.

 

(Snip)

[kevindavis]

He is done..

[Saltbag]

Our family has had a link with Ben Carson ever since he saved my nephew's life over 25 years ago. I know a fair amount about him. I will say that I like him over a number of the other candidates, but he has never been my first choice.

I never saw him as jumping right into the Presidency if he ever had political inclinations. Months, or maybe even a couple years ago, there was a hypothetical post of "who would your dream Cabinet be?" I put Ben Carson as head of HHS.