Establishment Dems Hobbling DNC Chair's Grassroots Challenger
Published on
Monday, March 21, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Establishment Dems Hobbling DNC Chair's Grassroots Challenger
"The Florida Democratic Party will not allow me access to our party's
database and software because I am running against an incumbent Democrat."
by
Deirdre Fulton, staff writer
Tim Canova, a professor at Nova Southeastern University and former attorney,
announced his campaign to unseat the six-term congresswoman and chair of the
Democratic National Committee in January. (Photo: Tim Canova for
Congress/Facebook)
Exposing a policy that he says hamstrings not only his own upstart campaign
but the Democratic Party apparatus nationwide, Florida congressional hopeful
Tim Canova is crying foul on the state Democratic Party for denying him
access to a critical voter file database and software that could help him in
his bid against incumbent Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Canova, a professor at Nova Southeastern University and former attorney,
announced his campaign to unseat the six-term congresswoman and chair of the
Democratic National Committee in January. He requested access to the
database, known as VAN, earlier this month.
According to a letter seen by Common Dreams and being delivered Monday to
state Democratic Party chair Allison Tant, Canova was told by another party
official "that, as a matter of 'policy,' the Florida Democratic Party will
not allow me access to our party's database and software because I am
running against an incumbent Democrat."
A committee spokesperson, Max Steele, confirmed as much to the Broward Palm
Beach New Times, stating via email that the Florida Democratic Party does
not offer data access "to candidates challenging incumbent members of
Florida's Democratic congressional delegation. This policy has been applied
uniformly across the board since 2010. We stand with our incumbent members
of Congress and we're proud of the job they do representing the people of
Florida. The Voter File is proprietary software created and owned by the
Democratic National Committee that is maintained and operated by the Florida
Democratic Party here in state."
Canova's letter, a formal request for access to the database, concludes: "If
the Florida Democratic Party continues to deny my request, please promptly
provide us with a copy of the exact provision in the state party's by-laws
or rules upon which the denial is based, and all other provisions and
agreements relating to this issue."
Canova told Common Dreams by phone Monday that the campaign is "considering
litigation" depending on Tant's response. Operating without the database is
basically like "running blind," he says.
In a blog post last week, Canova elaborated:
This is unfair and undemocratic. My opponent already has untold advantages
against an insurgent progressive campaign like ours. We are refusing to take
corporate money, while she has taken millions of dollars from Wall Street
bankers, payday lenders, private prison companies, and other corporate
special interests. How much more of an advantage does Wasserman Schultz need
to silence the voices of grassroots voters in our district?
"This is nothing less than an entrenched establishment throwing up
roadblocks against our political revolution," he wrote.
That's a charge akin to one voters heard in December, when Wasserman Schultz
suspended Bernie Sanders' campaign's access to the 50-state version of the
database. "We are taking on the establishment and I'm sure there are people
within the Democratic establishment who are not happy about the overwhelming
success that Bernie Sanders is having all across this country," Sanders'
campaign manager Jeff Weaver said at the time.
Canova sat on one of Sanders' Wall Street reform advisory committees and has
adopted a similar campaign platform focused on reducing inequality, reining
in corporate influence, Medicare for All, and tuition-free higher education.
And he claims that, like Sanders, he is feeling the heat because he poses a
threat to the Democratic establishment, one which embraces a "corporatist
agenda rather than a progressive agenda."
The Florida Democratic Party should be "inviting contested elections, not
deterring" them, he said. Not doing so, he added, does a disservice to
Democratic candidates who aren't forced to defend their ideas and in turn,
suffer in the general election.
And Canova isn't the only one suffering from the party's "fixation on
protecting incumbents," he says-others from the party's "progressive wing"
are being "locked out," too.
Writing in February, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill media
professor Daniel Kriess said state party VAN-access policy "with respect to
challengers to incumbents in primaries varies."
For those that do limit or block access, the rationale "is that there needs
to be an incentive for incumbents to continue to use the party's voter data,
and ultimately share their voter identification work back with other
candidates, or they will view their electoral work across cycles simply as
being used against them," he explained. "What this in effect means is that,
in some states, challengers to incumbents cannot access the party's
extensive voter file and the competitive advantages it might entail."
Indeed, news outlets in Missouri reported last month on the fight over VAN
access in that state, where "several Democratic candidates-who are also
Ferguson movement leaders," were blocked from the files by the state party.
As one of the candidate's campaign managers put it, "The sign almost says,
'Newcomers need not apply.'"
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
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Establishment Dems Hobbling DNC Chair's Grassroots Challenger
Published on
Monday, March 21, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Establishment Dems Hobbling DNC Chair's Grassroots Challenger
"The Florida Democratic Party will not allow me access to our party's
database and software because I am running against an incumbent Democrat."
by
Deirdre Fulton, staff writer
. 29 Comments
.
. Tim Canova, a professor at Nova Southeastern University and former
attorney, announced his campaign to unseat the six-term congresswoman and
chair of the Democratic National Committee in January. (Photo: Tim Canova
for Congress/Facebook)
. Exposing a policy that he says hamstrings not only his own upstart
campaign but the Democratic Party apparatus nationwide, Florida
congressional hopeful Tim Canova is crying foul on the state Democratic
Party for denying him access to a critical voter file database and software
that could help him in his bid against incumbent Rep. Debbie Wasserman
Schultz.
. Canova, a professor at Nova Southeastern University and former
attorney, announced his campaign to unseat the six-term congresswoman and
chair of the Democratic National Committee in January. He requested access
to the database, known as VAN, earlier this month.
. According to a letter seen by Common Dreams and being delivered
Monday to state Democratic Party chair Allison Tant, Canova was told by
another party official "that, as a matter of 'policy,' the Florida
Democratic Party will not allow me access to our party's database and
software because I am running against an incumbent Democrat."
. A committee spokesperson, Max Steele, confirmed as much to the
Broward Palm Beach New Times, stating via email that the Florida Democratic
Party does not offer data access "to candidates challenging incumbent
members of Florida's Democratic congressional delegation. This policy has
been applied uniformly across the board since 2010. We stand with our
incumbent members of Congress and we're proud of the job they do
representing the people of Florida. The Voter File is proprietary software
created and owned by the Democratic National Committee that is maintained
and operated by the Florida Democratic Party here in state."
Canova's letter, a formal request for access to the database, concludes: "If
the Florida Democratic Party continues to deny my request, please promptly
provide us with a copy of the exact provision in the state party's by-laws
or rules upon which the denial is based, and all other provisions and
agreements relating to this issue."
Canova told Common Dreams by phone Monday that the campaign is "considering
litigation" depending on Tant's response. Operating without the database is
basically like "running blind," he says.
In a blog post last week, Canova elaborated:
This is unfair and undemocratic. My opponent already has untold advantages
against an insurgent progressive campaign like ours. We are refusing to take
corporate money, while she has taken millions of dollars from Wall Street
bankers, payday lenders, private prison companies, and other corporate
special interests. How much more of an advantage does Wasserman Schultz need
to silence the voices of grassroots voters in our district?
"This is nothing less than an entrenched establishment throwing up
roadblocks against our political revolution," he wrote.
That's a charge akin to one voters heard in December, when Wasserman Schultz
suspended Bernie Sanders' campaign's access to the 50-state version of the
database. "We are taking on the establishment and I'm sure there are people
within the Democratic establishment who are not happy about the overwhelming
success that Bernie Sanders is having all across this country," Sanders'
campaign manager Jeff Weaver said at the time.
Canova sat on one of Sanders' Wall Street reform advisory committees and has
adopted a similar campaign platform focused on reducing inequality, reining
in corporate influence, Medicare for All, and tuition-free higher education.
And he claims that, like Sanders, he is feeling the heat because he poses a
threat to the Democratic establishment, one which embraces a "corporatist
agenda rather than a progressive agenda."
The Florida Democratic Party should be "inviting contested elections, not
deterring" them, he said. Not doing so, he added, does a disservice to
Democratic candidates who aren't forced to defend their ideas and in turn,
suffer in the general election.
And Canova isn't the only one suffering from the party's "fixation on
protecting incumbents," he says-others from the party's "progressive wing"
are being "locked out," too.
Writing in February, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill media
professor Daniel Kriess said state party VAN-access policy "with respect to
challengers to incumbents in primaries varies."
For those that do limit or block access, the rationale "is that there needs
to be an incentive for incumbents to continue to use the party's voter data,
and ultimately share their voter identification work back with other
candidates, or they will view their electoral work across cycles simply as
being used against them," he explained. "What this in effect means is that,
in some states, challengers to incumbents cannot access the party's
extensive voter file and the competitive advantages it might entail."
Indeed, news outlets in Missouri reported last month on the fight over VAN
access in that state, where "several Democratic candidates-who are also
Ferguson movement leaders," were blocked from the files by the state party.
As one of the candidate's campaign managers put it, "The sign almost says,
'Newcomers need not apply.'"
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
