ALBANY – The 29-year-old manager of Jeanine Pirro’s now-defunct Senate campaign was fired amid revelations he paid himself $16,000 a month, a source close to Pirro told The Post yesterday.
Brian Donohue, a former Republican National Committee operative who was recruited by Pirro campaign consultant Kieran Mahoney, was let go last week as the former Westchester district attorney began a new campaign for attorney general, the source said.
“Jeanine herself made the decision to let him go,” said the source.
“He was clearly [in] over his head, inexperienced and inept – and the whole time, he’s paying himself $16,000 a month, while Jeanine was having trouble raising money.
“People were stunned when they learned the figure.”
In response, Donohue told The Post he wasn’t fired and said Pirro had asked him to stay.
He contended Pirro would soon call The Post to confirm his claim, but she didn’t.
Pirro spokeswoman Anne Marie Corbalis called Donohue’s departure “a mutual decision,” but when asked if he had been asked to stay on as campaign manager, she responded, “I couldn’t say.”
Donohue, who was hired in October, insisted he had decided to quit because “I’m a federal [race] campaign manager and I didn’t want to run a state campaign.”
He confirmed paying himself $16,000-a-month, noting that Pirro might not have been aware of his huge salary.
“I decided [the salary] with other folks in the campaign,” said Donohue, who repeatedly refused to name the “other folks” involved.
Donohue said his high salary was justified “because the campaign was intended to be a high-funded effort” and because of the “very difficult situation” involved in challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The source said Donohue’s ouster was part of an overall effort by Pirro to take personal control of her political future.
“This really shows that Jeanine is cleaning house now and taking over her campaign. She’s the one who is going to run it this time, not a consultant or a campaign manager,” the source continued.
Pirro announced she would challenge Clinton in August, but her campaign was plagued by a series of embarrassing gaffes and financial problems.
Gov. Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer) – and even her husband, Albert – then urged Pirro to switch to the race for attorney general, a move she made just before Christmas.
The Post disclosed yesterday that Pataki was furious with Pirro because her ill-fated Senate campaign had embarrassed him in Republican circles across the country.
Pataki, who was quick to endorse Pirro’s Senate candidacy, has yet to endorse her campaign for attorney general.
Sources close to Pirro have complained the governor has embarrassed her in recent days by seemingly promoting the potential attorney-general campaign of Chauncey Parker, the governor’s criminal-justice coordinator.
EX-CAMPAIGN MANAGER
Name: Brian Donohue
Title: Former Jeanine Pirro campaign manager
Age: 29
Residence: Washington, D.C.
Prior political experience: Ran 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign in West Virginia; Republican National Committee operative; two congressional races
New York political experience: None
Political mentor: Pirro-Pataki consultant Kieran Mahoney
Campaign salary: $16,000-a-month