[5] Mandy starts out the show as an advisor to Democratic Senator Lloyd Russell, a political challenger to President Josiah Bartlet who opposes many of his policies.

[6] In "The State Dinner", when the Federal Bureau of Investigation wants to use force to take down a militia involved in a hostage situation, Mandy strongly urges the President to exhaust all peaceful solutions first, despite Josh's advice to the contrary.

She expressed that she felt the same way, and as a result, story lines hadn't been invested in that character, because we knew that at the end of the year, we'd be shaking hands and parting company.

[13] Sorkin originally planned to reintroduce Mandy in the second-season episode "The War at Home", as the campaign operator of junior senator and environmentalist Seth Gilette, played by Ed Begley, Jr.[14] However, that appearance never happened.

They pointed out that even Mandy, who held a relatively important position as political consultant, was not predominantly featured in major storylines and departed from the show quickly.

[1][15] In response, authors Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor, who published a book about the series, wrote, "This televised representation may not be so much the result of a conscious or even unconscious bias on the part of the scriptwriters but a reflection of Washington reality.