Post by unlawflcombatnt on May 13, 2016 23:26:47 GMT -6
from Politico.com
www.politico.com/story/2016/05/bernie-sanders-dnc-rules-committee-222978
Now it’s the Democratic convention that’s promising to get messy.
Sanders:
We're 'fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party'
By Nick Gass
"After piling up millions of votes and wins in 19 states, Bernie Sanders and his supporters are beginning to lay out their expectations for the Democratic National Convention — and they’re expressing deep frustration with what they see as a wall of party resistance.
The most recent flare-up occurred last week, when Sanders publicly released a letter to Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz accusing her of stacking the deck against him on the convention's standing committees. “[W]e are prepared to mobilize our delegates to force as many votes as necessary to amend the platform and rules on the floor of the convention," wrote Sanders, several days after a tense phone conversation with the chairwoman.
According to a Sanders official with knowledge of the call, the senator demanded more representation on the committees but Wasserman Schultz would only assure him that he would have representation. A DNC spokesman declined to characterize the conversation and would only confirm that it took place.
For a party that's anxious to unite all its factions behind likely nominee Hillary Clinton after a long slog of a primary, it was an inauspicious — and worrisome — start.
"I'm surprised and a little bit shocked that the numbers are so few given the nature of the base in the coming decade. This is not necessary," said Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, a Sanders supporter. "In other words, if Hillary Clinton is the nominee, it is not necessary to solidify her election by fashioning a list that's so restrictive."
Both the Hillary Clinton and Sanders campaigns had submitted names for consideration on the convention's standing committees, but in January when Wasserman Schultz handed down her final list of 75 nominations — all of whom were approved by the DNC's Executive Committee — nearly all of Sanders' choices had been disregarded.
The Vermont senator had provided the DNC with 45 names — a diverse list that included Sanders supporters ranging from Congressmen Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison to former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower, a leading progressive populist.
Wasserman Schultz picked just 3 of the 45.
Months of negotiations with the DNC failed to add any additional Sanders supporters on the standing committees, leading Sanders to go public with his grievance last week.
To the Sanders camp, Wasserman Schultz’s selections for committee chairmen rubbed salt in the wound. Among the committee co-chairs she named were two sharp-elbowed Clinton partisans known for their harsh criticism of the Vermont
To the Sanders camp, Wasserman Schultz’s selections for committee chairmen rubbed salt in the wound. Among the committee co-chairs she named were two sharp-elbowed Clinton partisans known for their harsh criticism of the Vermont senator: Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank.
“It's sort of like coded language, dog-whistle politics. You only hear the language if it's directed at you,” said Maine state Rep. Diane Russell, a Sanders supporter who pushed an amendment at the Maine Democratic Party convention Saturday that would make delegates and super delegates align their support in proportion to the state's caucus results. “I think when you saw when the committees were laid out there was no real way to say the DNC was actively shutting out this group of people, supporting this other candidate until you really saw the construction of the committees and I think that brought it to life.”
The tensions between the DNC and the Sanders campaign are long running, ranging from disputes over debates to a bitter feud was over the committee's decision to revoke the Sanders campaign's access to its voter data file following after a data breach. Last week, the Sanders campaign accused the DNC of having an inappropriate fundraising agreement with the Clinton campaign..."
www.politico.com/story/2016/05/bernie-sanders-dnc-rules-committee-222978
Now it’s the Democratic convention that’s promising to get messy.
Sanders:
We're 'fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party'
By Nick Gass
"After piling up millions of votes and wins in 19 states, Bernie Sanders and his supporters are beginning to lay out their expectations for the Democratic National Convention — and they’re expressing deep frustration with what they see as a wall of party resistance.
The most recent flare-up occurred last week, when Sanders publicly released a letter to Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz accusing her of stacking the deck against him on the convention's standing committees. “[W]e are prepared to mobilize our delegates to force as many votes as necessary to amend the platform and rules on the floor of the convention," wrote Sanders, several days after a tense phone conversation with the chairwoman.
According to a Sanders official with knowledge of the call, the senator demanded more representation on the committees but Wasserman Schultz would only assure him that he would have representation. A DNC spokesman declined to characterize the conversation and would only confirm that it took place.
For a party that's anxious to unite all its factions behind likely nominee Hillary Clinton after a long slog of a primary, it was an inauspicious — and worrisome — start.
"I'm surprised and a little bit shocked that the numbers are so few given the nature of the base in the coming decade. This is not necessary," said Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, a Sanders supporter. "In other words, if Hillary Clinton is the nominee, it is not necessary to solidify her election by fashioning a list that's so restrictive."
Both the Hillary Clinton and Sanders campaigns had submitted names for consideration on the convention's standing committees, but in January when Wasserman Schultz handed down her final list of 75 nominations — all of whom were approved by the DNC's Executive Committee — nearly all of Sanders' choices had been disregarded.
The Vermont senator had provided the DNC with 45 names — a diverse list that included Sanders supporters ranging from Congressmen Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison to former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower, a leading progressive populist.
Wasserman Schultz picked just 3 of the 45.
Months of negotiations with the DNC failed to add any additional Sanders supporters on the standing committees, leading Sanders to go public with his grievance last week.
To the Sanders camp, Wasserman Schultz’s selections for committee chairmen rubbed salt in the wound. Among the committee co-chairs she named were two sharp-elbowed Clinton partisans known for their harsh criticism of the Vermont
To the Sanders camp, Wasserman Schultz’s selections for committee chairmen rubbed salt in the wound. Among the committee co-chairs she named were two sharp-elbowed Clinton partisans known for their harsh criticism of the Vermont senator: Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank.
“It's sort of like coded language, dog-whistle politics. You only hear the language if it's directed at you,” said Maine state Rep. Diane Russell, a Sanders supporter who pushed an amendment at the Maine Democratic Party convention Saturday that would make delegates and super delegates align their support in proportion to the state's caucus results. “I think when you saw when the committees were laid out there was no real way to say the DNC was actively shutting out this group of people, supporting this other candidate until you really saw the construction of the committees and I think that brought it to life.”
The tensions between the DNC and the Sanders campaign are long running, ranging from disputes over debates to a bitter feud was over the committee's decision to revoke the Sanders campaign's access to its voter data file following after a data breach. Last week, the Sanders campaign accused the DNC of having an inappropriate fundraising agreement with the Clinton campaign..."