‘Big Ol’ Red Flag’: Report of Mayor Pete Getting Advice From Mark Zuckerberg Sparks Concern
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is getting some blowback over a report which revealed that he has been receiving campaign advice from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
According to Bloomberg, Zuckerberg sent multiple emails to Buttigieg’s campaign manager recommending hires. Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan also sent several emails recommending additions to the campaign team. Two of those referred were ultimately hired.
The report adds that Buttigieg was friends with two of Zuckerberg’s roommates at Harvard (Buttigieg and Zuckerberg’s time at the school overlapped). And the South Bend, IN mayor was also one of Facebook’s first 300 users. The two, though, did not meet until years later, according to Bloomberg.
Nonetheless, the report has some observers concerned — on the same day a new poll in Iowa shows Buttigieg very much in contention to win the state’s caucus, placing a close third behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Here’s a sampling of the reaction from Twitter:
Mayor Pete is trying to Zuck us.
— Mike Futter (@Futterish) October 21, 2019
Boy, I really liked Mayor Pete. I mean, still do in some ways, but this kind of thing is a big ol’ red flag, huh. https://t.co/x6OI5gEGk5
— Chuck Wendig-Your-Own-Grave (@ChuckWendig) October 21, 2019
When people get drunk with power, as Zuckerberg has, terrible things happen.
That is all, Pete Buttigieg. Didn’t they teach you that at Oxford?
— Zephyr Teachout (@ZephyrTeachout) October 21, 2019
Buh-bye, Mayor Pete. https://t.co/k5Dl6XhYre
— Rob Tannenbaum (@tannenbaumr) October 21, 2019
Any candidate with a close or advisory relationship with a controversial and influential CEO in the news and under fire ought to make that known. https://t.co/JQ0fKSjMGU
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) October 21, 2019
I have never been on the Mayor Pete express and that he seems so willing to sell right out to the highest bidder so soon is depressing.
— Tricia Romano (@tromano) October 21, 2019
?
Zuckerberg and his wife each “sent multiple emails to Mike Schmuhl, Buttigieg’s campaign manager, with names of individuals that he might consider hiring”
Help me understand how this doesn’t make Mayor Pete look bough and paid for? https://t.co/VwESNwi5br
— Ethan Bearman (@EthanBearman) October 21, 2019
Hmmmm.
Mark Zuckerberg has privately recommended several potential hires to Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, a rare example of direct political involvement from one of tech’s most powerful executives.
Atmospherics around this are *not good.* https://t.co/t7PAOYgcrx
— Tim O’Brien (@TimOBrien) October 21, 2019
so buttigieg is attacking elizabeth warren while being advised by mark zuckerberg? ? https://t.co/fgniKrZiaf
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) October 21, 2019
Mark Zuckerberg is advising two campaigns: Donald Trump and Pete Buttigieg https://t.co/vidnJSRBDF
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) October 21, 2019
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