Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ top communications strategist, Peter Kadushin, resigned on Monday, saying he was leaving the city of Atlanta to take a job at Amazon in Seattle.
Kadushin, 36, was one of five individuals who has served as director of communications, or interim director of communications — a cabinet level position — for Bottoms over the past two and a half years.
"I'm proud to have been a small part of a city deeply rooted in the fight for civil rights that continues to lead the way demanding systemic change for Black lives," Kadushin told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an interview Tuesday.
Kadushin also presided over the communications office during a time when Bottoms’ national profile soared with cable news pundits often discussing the possibility of her being Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s’ vice presidential pick.
“Thank you for the opportunity to serve you, your administration, and the City of Atlanta,” Kadushin wrote in his resignation letter dated Monday. “I am proud to have transformed the communications office into a team that stands among the best municipal communications operations in the country.”
Kadushin, whom Bottoms appointed to the position in January 2019, said that he had accepted a job on Amazon's corporate communications team.
Kadushin said the job at Amazon presented a great opportunity for him and his family. He is married with two young boys, a 2-year-old and a 4-month-old baby. He also has family in Seattle area.
Before coming to Atlanta, Kadushin was Senior Communications Advisor, and previous Director of Communications, for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.
Kadushin has also worked as Deputy Director of Communications for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
In his resignation letter, Kadushin said he was particularly pleased to have worked on Mayor Bottoms’ “launch of Atlanta’s Housing Affordability Action Plan, the reopening of the Atlanta Child Murders case, the city’s first attempt to engage residents in maximizing the collection of the Earned Income Tax Credit.”
According to his letter, Kadushin’s last day will be July 3.
A Bottoms’ spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a text message about Kadushin’s resignation.
