Anne Filipic

During March 2021 the Daily Beast reported that “dozens of young White House staffers,” newly hired by the incoming Biden Administration, had been “suspended, asked to resign, or placed in a remote work program due to past marijuana use.” Filipic was identified by the affected individuals as the White House official who led the calls informing them of the revocation of their job status. The Daily Beast wrote that the staffers claimed to have been “informally told by transition officials that some past marijuana use would be overlooked, only to be told later that they were being asked to resign.” ³

Background

Anne Filipic is a Democratic political operative who served as Director of the White House Office of Management and Administration in the Biden Administration until 2022.⁴

She was previously the program officer and chief operating officer at the Obama Foundation, and was also formerly the president of Enroll America, a coalition formed to promote enrollment in Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) insurance plans. During the Obama administration, she served as Deputy Director of Public Engagement at the White House, and Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She also formerly served as Deputy Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee and on President Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign. ²

Filipic married Carlos Monje in 2011. Monje has been a special assistant to President Barack Obama, a chief of staff of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and a director of public policy and philanthropy for Twitter. ^{5 6}

Controversies

Biden White House Marijuana Use Firings

During March 2021 the Daily Beast reported that “dozens of young White House staffers,” newly hired by the incoming Biden administration, had been “suspended, asked to resign, or placed in a remote work program due to past marijuana use.” The Daily Beast reported this policy was “frustrating” for many staffers (both those affected by the policy and others) because of “indications from the Biden administration that recreational use of cannabis would not be immediately disqualifying for would-be personnel.” ³

The affected staffers identified Filipic as the person executing their dismissals: ³

“There were one-on-one calls with individual affected staffers—rather, ex-staffers,” one former White House staffer affected by the policy told The Daily Beast. “I was asked to resign.”

“Nothing was ever explained” on the calls, they added, which were led by White House Director of Management and Administration Anne Filipic. “The policies were never explained, the threshold for what was excusable and what was inexcusable was never explained.” ³

According to the Daily Beast: “Several staffers were informally told by transition officials that some past marijuana use would be overlooked, only to be told later that they were being asked to resign.” ³

Partisanship at Enroll America

Filipic was president of Enroll America from January 2013 through August 2017. ⁷ Enroll America was a supposedly non-partisan charitable advocacy group founded for the express purpose of enrolling people in Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) insurance plans and ensuring those people renewed their enrollments. ⁸

During Filipic’s leadership the organization was accused of and criticized for engaging in partisan political advocacy. As an example, following the 2016 election Filipic alleged that attempts by Republican majorities in Congress and incoming President Donald Trump might “take away life-saving coverage from millions of people.” ⁹

And a 2013 sting video by the right-leaning investigative journalist group Project Veritas appears to show a Texas spokesperson for Enroll America claiming that the organization worked with and shared data with Battleground Texas, a left-of-center political action committee. The mission of Battleground Texas is to turn Texas (a Republican stronghold for many years) into a “battleground” state where Democratic candidates running for both state and federal office would have significantly higher chances of winning elections. ¹⁰