The Democratic National Committee is at it again.
According to Politico, a small group of DNC members has begun discussing a plan aimed at harming Sen. Bernie Sanders' chances of winning the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
From Politico:
In conversations on the sidelines of a DNC executive committee meeting and in telephone calls and texts in recent days, about a half-dozen members have discussed the possibility of a policy reversal to ensure that so-called superdelegates can vote on the first ballot at the party's national convention. Such a move would increase the influence of DNC members, members of Congress and other top party officials, who now must wait until the second ballot to have their say if the convention is contested.
"I do believe we should re-open the rules. I hear it from others as well," one DNC member said in a text message last week to William Owen, a DNC member from Tennessee who does not support re-opening the rules.
The DNC chose to relegate superdelegates to the second ballot following the 2016 convention because they were widely seen to hold too much power.
That is because, despite Sanders' overwhelming popular support, Hillary Clinton handedly won the party's nomination in 2016 due to the majority of superdelegates backing her campaign. Giving the superdelegates — which the DNC now calls "automatic delegates" — less power means voters have more say in who wins the nomination.
Reversing the policy change would likely trigger a similar result in 2020: Sanders loses the nomination because establishment Democrats use superdelegates to ensure the candidate of their choice wins.
In response to the report, DNC Chairman Tom Perez said, "Absolutely not. We put in the work to ensure power was returned to the grassroots, we will be following the rules set forth by the DNC. We will not bend on this, we will not change our rules."
However, the DNC has already showed willingness to change rules to accommodate establishment favorites.
On Friday, the DNC announced a massive overhaul to criteria used to determine which Democratic candidates are eligible to participate in the primary debates, completely scrapping the donor threshold. The move will help Michael Bloomberg, allowing him to participate in upcoming debates.
Candidates and their campaigns slammed the DNC in response.
"To now change the rules in the middle of the game to accommodate Mike Bloomberg, who is trying to buy his way into the Democratic nomination, is wrong," Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Sanders' campaign, said. "That's the definition of a rigged system."
Elizabeth Warren said, "The DNC didn't change the rules to ensure good, diverse candidates could remain on the debate stage. They shouldn't change the rules to let a billionaire on. Billionaires shouldn't be allowed to play by different rules—on the debate stage, in our democracy, or in our government."
The DNC didn’t change the rules to ensure good, diverse candidates could remain on the debate stage. They shouldn’t change the rules to let a billionaire on. Billionaires shouldn't be allowed to play by different rules—on the debate stage, in our democracy, or in our government.— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 31, 2020
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) said, "Bloomberg just bought the @DNC," adding the hashtag "PayToPlay."
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) January 31, 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment