Re: She just doesn't [...] understand how soft money influence actually works
Maybe, but maybe it was not following procedure so that Slaughter could defend herself when the phone call came. Maybe it was making your boss look like an idiot whose staff are unmanageable.
If you are a manager and get called in front of someone with the facts to hand and good reasoning behind a decision then fine, you have to stand on your own two feet. If you are called to account to ask why something happened and you have to admit you had no knowledge of it then it jeopardises your position.