Linda Douglass, a top administration spokeswoman who spoke to the press about health care reform, is leaving the White House according to the Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz.
Douglass confirmed to me in an email that she’ll be leaving, but with “mixed emotions.”
“It’s been such a privilege to work with this team but I made a promise to myself and my family that I would disentangle myself from my Blackberry and relearn the experience of an uninterrupted Sunday dinner after the law was enacted,” Douglass said.
“I am really proud to have been part of the health reform effort and am beyond proud to have served the President and his terrific team. What’s next? Sleeping late for awhile.”
Douglass, a longtime ABC reporter who made headlines for joining the Obama campaign in 2008, was often on television discussing the administration’s health care plans. She also defended the White House on the blog.
Kurtz wrote on his Twitter feed to break the news that Douglass is “leaving WH next week,” quipping that maybe it was “Mission accomplished” following the historic passage of health care reform last month.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s not a huge surprise since she worked in the office tasked with helping pass health care reform. What’s not known yet is — after some ‘sleeping late’ — if she’ll move to another administration post, return to the media or do something else entirely.
After the campaign, Douglass worked on the inaugural committee. She was picked to be Tom Daschle’s top press aide at the Department of Health and Human Services, but was left in a sort of limbo after he withdrew from the nomination due to tax problems. When health care reform got cranking last spring, she joined the White House team which includes health care “czar” Nancy-Ann De Parle.
This post has been updated.
