Looks like someone at the Farouk Shami campaign has suffered an email malfunction.
An unsigned internal email that was meant for Shami campaign staffers has been inadvertently sent out to people outside of the campaign, including several reporters at the Star-Telegram.
The email is from PressTeam@faroukforgovernor.com. The message is a response to emails that have been distributed by a man named "David A. Diaz" that are from a private AOL.com email but at first glance looks like it's from the Shami campaign.
The campaign staffer starts the email with "Who the hell is David Diaz?" and then goes on to complain that "amateurs" are messing with the campaign's message, and giving Shami "quotes like great one about Mexicans and sunshine."
"The entire paid staff has worked very hard on strategy for this candidate and have been chopped off at the knees by these incompetents!" the email reads.
It goes on: "Seriously, can we hunt these people down and muzzle them?"
The Diaz story that sparked the email from the Shami staffer attempts to link Bill White to a racial profiling program. It has been posted on the conservative news site Texas Insider.
We forwarded the email to Charlie Ray, Shami's press secretary, and asked for a response.
"Since I don't see this signed by anybody, I cannot comment on the content of this email," Ray said. "I can say David Diaz is not on our press team."
Austin American-Statesman reporter Corrie MacLaggan has more details on the confusion over who is allowed to speak on behalf of the Shami campaign here.
The full email is after the jump:
From: PressTeam [mailto:PressTeam@faroukforgovernor.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 12:49 PM
To: Batheja, Aman
Subject: RE: [Fwd: Bill White was early supporter of a plan based on racial profiling, says Farouk Shami]
Who in the hell is David Diaz? He is not authorized by the campaign to send out any press releases and we keep seeing them out there, apparently "authorized" by Jessica Gutierrez? Isn't she Farouk's public relations rep for his company? Why are these amateurs with aol.com email addresses sending out these awful statements? These are the same people that give him quotes like great one about Mexicans and sunshine. No one with the campaign has authorized these statements and whoever they are, they are sabotaging every bit of legitimacy Farouk has as a candidate.
We have a communications
director, a press secretary, and a policy/strategy team for the campaign. The
entire paid staff has worked very hard on strategy for this candidate and have
been chopped off at the knees by these incompetents! The staff could probably
work with his "unique" statements, but these people that think they are helping
him are feeding him their stupidity. Seriously, can we hunt these people down
and muzzle them? This is highly unprofessional and must be resolved
immediately.
-Aman Batheja
Wow. This is hilarious stuff. You know the best part???
The person who sent this email didn't even realize that Jessica Gutierrez is on Shami's press team!!!
Her email is jessica@faroukforgovernor.com, and she is probably working for both Farouk's company and the Farouk for Governor campaign!
Check out the press release she sent back in December: http://africanamericansforfarouk.blogspot.com/2009/12/statement-of-farouk-shami-democratic.html
This campaign is clearly self destructing and CLEARLY they have too many cooks in the kitchen! The Democratic primary is not for sale, Farouk!
Posted by: SuperBurn | February 16, 2010 at 02:39 PM
This is no different than anything else with Farouk. He has to be in charge, and he is known to direct his staff independently from any organizational structure.
Farouk’s management philosophy includes
• “I conceived it, thus it’s done”, i.e. making a decision tonight and fully expecting it to be implemented before he even talks to anyone – it works in a small entrepreneurial organization where he has the total control and it is his own money – However, how would it work in our democratic form of government?
• In his culture (and business practice) – “cousins” (anyone with Middle Eastern heritage) make no mistakes and family “walks on water” , i.e. the actual professional qualifications are secondary in his mind.
Posted by: Longtime Texan | February 17, 2010 at 03:54 PM
African-Americans for Farouk??? Wonder if this is the same group who though Obama was going to give all African-American's free money and a new Escalade?
How's that working for you?
Posted by: randomcommenter | February 20, 2010 at 11:22 PM