Anne Torres, 'Meet the Press,' and the Cory Booker method of communications
Cory Booker and Chris Christie. Cory Booker, via flickr
4:10 pm May. 29, 2012
The resignation of Cory Booker's communications director Anne Torres isn't likely to change much in the Newark mayor's press operation.
Booker is a famously strong extemporaneous speaker (and Twitter enthusiast) who generally keeps his own counsel when it comes to message. As one person with knowledge of his press operation put it to me, "Booker has never, never listened to his press advisers."
Even as Booker struggled to contain the national fallout from his critical comments on "Meet the Press" last week about the Obama campaign's attacks on Bain Capital, he seemed determined to handle it himself, first posting a four-minute video to clarify that in fact he supported the president, and then appearing on Rachel Maddow's show to express his displeasure that Republicans were using his remarks against the president.
Torres, who started out as an executive assistant in the communications office, resigned this morning, citing a difference in vision with the mayor.
"I just decided it is best if I pursued other opportunities," Torres told the Star-Ledger. "We have very different views on how communications should be run."
Torres will be replaced as Booker's press secretary on an interim basis by Esmerelda Diaz Cameron. No word on when Booker will next be making a public appearance on behalf of Barack Obama.
