Mixed messages about my performance from senior leaders

We need some wise counsel about how to open a conversation with a boss about mixed messages about performance.

My wife (also a MT fan and conference attendee!) is a senior manager (GS-15) in a small federal government office in the Washington DC headquarters of a department. The relatively new director is a fish-out-of-water, as she is a scientist who should have stayed in a lab somewhere. She is neither a leader nor a marginally effective manager. (Effective managers ARE leaders, in my view.) Her performance as the director of this small office was so bad the levels above approved hiring a second "deputy" to serve as chief-of-staff to cover the parts she's not doing. This person is effective, but has disrupted long standing relationships within the office, exacerbating the us-vs-them situation between senior management and the rest of the staff.

For the first time ever, my wife received a performance rating lower than the top two levels. She was rated lower than the new deputy AND lower than the former deputy (who retained her title but was moved aside since she was neither a manager or leader).She also received no feedback with the performance rating, even after asking about what she could have done differently for a better outcome.

The office recently reorganized, creating a new (third) division. The two existing divisions retain their functions, but their division chiefs -- of which my wife is one -- must recompete for their jobs. The claim is that their positions are changing sufficiently to justtify a fresh competition. (Most involved don't agree, but that's not part of this question.) The message the two division chiefs "heard" from this is that the director and new deputy don't value their contributions to the office.

After we talked about her responsibility to the organization (including thoughts from one of the MT podcasts), she has been strongly supportive of the realignment to her staff. As a direct result, the director sent her an email lauding her support for the realignment.

She wants to talk with the director, and possibly the new deputy, about the mixed message of the performance rating, lack of feedback, and the latest email lauding her support for the realignment. But she is unclear about how to open that conversation in a way that will yield a constructive response from the director and deputy.

Thoughts?