JOHN SASSO

Democratic political consultant John Sasso worked various Massachusetts races (including for Gerry Studds and Ted Kennedy) before being tapped to run Governor Michael Dukakis’ campaign for governor in 1982. He rose to national prominence when Dukakis asked him to run his 1988 presidential race.
He was fired, however, in the wake of the controversy surrounding Joe Biden’s plagiarism of a speech by Britain’s then-opposition leader, Niel Kinnock. Biden had given a version of the speech many times, usually remembering to give proper attribution to Kinnock. However, when he failed to credit Kinnock during one Iowa stump address, Dukakis’ campaign was ready with a video camera. Sasso is believed to have distributed the footage, and was dismissed by Dukakis. (Immediately following the video’s release, Dukakis denied his campaign had any role in its distribution and vowed to fire any aide caught engaging in negative or dirty campaign tactics.)
Sasso’s departure left the Dukakis campaign in the hands of the untried Susan Estrich.
The notoriously reclusive Sasso worked for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, and more recently for the DNC.