Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Sanders Delegates Push DNC To Create Commission to Reform
Anti-Democratic Super Delegates and Caucus Process
________________________________________
Sanders Delegates Push DNC To Create Commission to Reform Anti-Democratic
Super Delegates and Caucus Process
By Steven Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2]
July 23, 2016
After a contentious afternoon where the Democratic National Convention's
Rules Committee voted down a series of proposals from the Sanders delegation
to reform the most glaring anti-democratic features of the party's primary
and caucus process, negotiators met in secret for several hours and forged
an agreement to create a reform commission to change those rules for future
elections.
"Let me call us America's party," said Texas Congresswomen Sheila Jackson,
who rose to support the proposal after opposing the Sanders camp's
amendments only hours before. "And America's party, the Democratic Party,
links arms with our brothers and sisters from Senator Sanders, and the
journey that they made and their supporters, and the journey that was made
by the Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters.
"But most of all what I want to say is that divide is no more," she
continued. "That we will climb this journey of victory together. That our
arms will be linked and we will go to the floor of this great convention.
And I am here to say, 'Thank you,' for being who you are. For I see that
mountain that we have been challenged to cover, and I am going to say, we
shall overcome and elect the next president of the United States, Hillary
Rodham Clinton, together... together... together."
The reform commission, which was then approved with 158 yeses, 6 nos and 1
abstention, will look at the main grievances raised by Sanders during the
2016 nominating season: that state party-run caucuses were non-democratic in
their counting and allocation of delegates to the next stages in the
process, and will, according to Sanders delegates who negotiated, shrink by
two-thirds the number of so-called super delegates, or the party insiders
who comprise one-sixth of the 2016 national convention delegates.
"I rise in support of this measure because this is the result of reasoned
discussions by many leaders within both campaigns, but it is truly driven by
an activism, an activism within the Democratic Party that has been embraced,
that has been engaged, and that we should continue to promote," said Paul
Feeney, a Sanders delegate who headed his campaign in Massachusetts and
Connecticut. "It's no coincidence that so many amendments have been filed
today about super delegates. The supporters of Bernie Sanders have risen up
across this country. Acted up. Not to demand a new party, but to make the
Democratic Party even better. That's what we're doing with this amendment.
That's what we are doing with this revolution that is also an evolution."
The turnaround came after a frustrating afternoon for Sanders delegates,
where it seemed the convention's rules committee was parting ways from the
party's platform committee by thwarting their call for democratic reforms.
The Sanders campaign won 13 million votes, 1,900 delegates and broke the
party's fundraising records for the number of small donors, its delegates
told the room, in part to push for concessions on the reforms they sought.
But before panel Chair Barney Frank called a recess after 4:00 PM, the
convention Rules Committee repeatedly rejected a series of reforms to their
"super delegate" system, despite the pleas of Sanders' delegates who urged
the 165-member body to accommodate millions of voters who want a more open
and less rigged presidential nominating process.
Super delegates are top elected federal and state officials, state party
leaders and key allies like labor union executives who can cast a vote for
the presidential nominee and also sit on a range of convention committees,
from drafting the platform to rules. For months, Sanders and his supporters
have complained that the system gave Clinton an unfair lead as hundreds of
party officials sided with her before states even started voting, which
tilted the media coverage despite Sanders rallies drawing many thousands.
His delegates were hoping to convince the party to change that system, as
well as reform the caucus process and adopt more open primaries-where any
voter, not just registered Democrats could participate. But several hours
into hearings on Saturday seemed to signal that the a majority of the rules
panel were not willing to shake up the party's status quo.
Before they broke to negotiate and propose the commission, the panel heard
short debate and then voted down a handful of reforms, from eliminating the
system of super delegates in its entirety, to reducing their numbers and
limiting their voting.
"I am asking those of you from the Clinton camp to take heed," said Julie
Hurwitz, a Sanders delegate from Detroit, speaking in favor of a compromise
that would have let super delegates vote if there was no clear nominee on
the first convention ballot. "I would ask you to not just blindly vote no,
no, no. The stakes are so high that I plead for you to take this issue
seriously."
"We have had these rules in place for 30 or 40 years," said George Albro, a
Sanders delegate from New York, responding to those who said now was not the
time to act. "We've had a lot of time to study it. We don't have a lot of
time to change it. If we walk out of this room with out heads hanging low.
The only standard that we are holding the DNC [Democratic National
Committee] to is the standard of democracy."
But in a series of amendments were repeatedly rejected by two-to-one
margins, especially after longtime officeholders said the super delegate
system never swayed a presidential nomination by ignoring the popular vote.
"This is more non-Democratic," said Jackson Lee in response to a proposal
cutting the number of super delegates. "The [origin of] super delegates was
a healing process, when the party was fractured. It was not to divide use it
was not to be an elite process."
She argued that super delegates allowed the party to elevate many people of
color and those from rural areas. However, that explanation, while swaying a
majority of Rules Committee members, was not persuasive to Sanders'
delegates. They told the room the party must send a signal to the millions
drawn to their campaign that their call for a more open process was heard.
"This is the correct forum to have this discussion," said North Carolina's
Chris O'Hara. "With all due respect. if super delegates were put in place
too heal a divided party, we are a divided party. I beseech you to actually
listen."
"The Republicans have basically nominated a fascist. It's close. Please take
a critical look at this," said Delaware's Rebecca Powers.
"I think this is the time for this," said Miami's Bruce Jacobs. "You are
sending a message to all the people coming into the party."
The Rules Committee compromise came after heavy pressure from
Democratic-leaning organizations, who gathered more than 750,000 signatures
calling for change, flew a plane over Philadelphia Friday calling for an end
to super delegates, and sent thousands of tweets to rules committee members.
There was high-interest in the votes, and shouts of "shame, shame, shame"
from outside the committee room could be heard on a live Youtube stream of
the meeting.
The groups who urged the DNC to end super delegates include: Courage
Campaign, Credo, Daily Kos, Demand Progress/Rootstrikers, Democracy for
America, Center for Popular, Democracy, MoveOn, National Nurses United, New
Democrat Network, The Other 98%, Presente, Progressive Change Campaign
Committee, Progressive Democrats of America, Progressive Kick, Reform the
DNC, and Social Security Works.
(Editor's note: Another reform proposal, to push the party to open its
primaries to any registered voter, not just Democrats, was rejected on
Saturday evening. Today Open Primaries, a non-profit electoral reform
organization, brought 40,000 signed petitions to the meeting, a release
noted. "It was an honor to stand up for the 26.3 million registered voters
who couldn't vote in this presidential election," Maggie Wunderly, a Rules
Committee member from Illinois said in the release.)
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet, including
America's retirement crisis, democracy and voting rights, and campaigns and
elections. He is the author of "Count My Vote: A Citizen's Guide to Voting"
(AlterNet Books, 2008).
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Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Sanders Delegates Push
DNC To Create Commission to Reform Anti-Democratic Super Delegates and
Caucus Process
[4] http://www.alternet.org/
[5] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Sanders Delegates Push DNC To Create Commission to Reform
Anti-Democratic Super Delegates and Caucus Process
Sanders Delegates Push DNC To Create Commission to Reform Anti-Democratic
Super Delegates and Caucus Process
By Steven Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2]
July 23, 2016
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After a contentious afternoon where the Democratic National Convention's
Rules Committee voted down a series of proposals from the Sanders delegation
to reform the most glaring anti-democratic features of the party's primary
and caucus process, negotiators met in secret for several hours and forged
an agreement to create a reform commission to change those rules for future
elections.
"Let me call us America's party," said Texas Congresswomen Sheila Jackson,
who rose to support the proposal after opposing the Sanders camp's
amendments only hours before. "And America's party, the Democratic Party,
links arms with our brothers and sisters from Senator Sanders, and the
journey that they made and their supporters, and the journey that was made
by the Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters.
"But most of all what I want to say is that divide is no more," she
continued. "That we will climb this journey of victory together. That our
arms will be linked and we will go to the floor of this great convention.
And I am here to say, 'Thank you,' for being who you are. For I see that
mountain that we have been challenged to cover, and I am going to say, we
shall overcome and elect the next president of the United States, Hillary
Rodham Clinton, together... together... together."
The reform commission, which was then approved with 158 yeses, 6 nos and 1
abstention, will look at the main grievances raised by Sanders during the
2016 nominating season: that state party-run caucuses were non-democratic in
their counting and allocation of delegates to the next stages in the
process, and will, according to Sanders delegates who negotiated, shrink by
two-thirds the number of so-called super delegates, or the party insiders
who comprise one-sixth of the 2016 national convention delegates.
"I rise in support of this measure because this is the result of reasoned
discussions by many leaders within both campaigns, but it is truly driven by
an activism, an activism within the Democratic Party that has been embraced,
that has been engaged, and that we should continue to promote," said Paul
Feeney, a Sanders delegate who headed his campaign in Massachusetts and
Connecticut. "It's no coincidence that so many amendments have been filed
today about super delegates. The supporters of Bernie Sanders have risen up
across this country. Acted up. Not to demand a new party, but to make the
Democratic Party even better. That's what we're doing with this amendment.
That's what we are doing with this revolution that is also an evolution."
The turnaround came after a frustrating afternoon for Sanders delegates,
where it seemed the convention's rules committee was parting ways from the
party's platform committee by thwarting their call for democratic reforms.
The Sanders campaign won 13 million votes, 1,900 delegates and broke the
party's fundraising records for the number of small donors, its delegates
told the room, in part to push for concessions on the reforms they sought.
But before panel Chair Barney Frank called a recess after 4:00 PM, the
convention Rules Committee repeatedly rejected a series of reforms to their
"super delegate" system, despite the pleas of Sanders' delegates who urged
the 165-member body to accommodate millions of voters who want a more open
and less rigged presidential nominating process.
Super delegates are top elected federal and state officials, state party
leaders and key allies like labor union executives who can cast a vote for
the presidential nominee and also sit on a range of convention committees,
from drafting the platform to rules. For months, Sanders and his supporters
have complained that the system gave Clinton an unfair lead as hundreds of
party officials sided with her before states even started voting, which
tilted the media coverage despite Sanders rallies drawing many thousands.
His delegates were hoping to convince the party to change that system, as
well as reform the caucus process and adopt more open primaries-where any
voter, not just registered Democrats could participate. But several hours
into hearings on Saturday seemed to signal that the a majority of the rules
panel were not willing to shake up the party's status quo.
Before they broke to negotiate and propose the commission, the panel heard
short debate and then voted down a handful of reforms, from eliminating the
system of super delegates in its entirety, to reducing their numbers and
limiting their voting.
"I am asking those of you from the Clinton camp to take heed," said Julie
Hurwitz, a Sanders delegate from Detroit, speaking in favor of a compromise
that would have let super delegates vote if there was no clear nominee on
the first convention ballot. "I would ask you to not just blindly vote no,
no, no. The stakes are so high that I plead for you to take this issue
seriously."
"We have had these rules in place for 30 or 40 years," said George Albro, a
Sanders delegate from New York, responding to those who said now was not the
time to act. "We've had a lot of time to study it. We don't have a lot of
time to change it. If we walk out of this room with out heads hanging low.
The only standard that we are holding the DNC [Democratic National
Committee] to is the standard of democracy."
But in a series of amendments were repeatedly rejected by two-to-one
margins, especially after longtime officeholders said the super delegate
system never swayed a presidential nomination by ignoring the popular vote.
"This is more non-Democratic," said Jackson Lee in response to a proposal
cutting the number of super delegates. "The [origin of] super delegates was
a healing process, when the party was fractured. It was not to divide use it
was not to be an elite process."
She argued that super delegates allowed the party to elevate many people of
color and those from rural areas. However, that explanation, while swaying a
majority of Rules Committee members, was not persuasive to Sanders'
delegates. They told the room the party must send a signal to the millions
drawn to their campaign that their call for a more open process was heard.
"This is the correct forum to have this discussion," said North Carolina's
Chris O'Hara. "With all due respect. if super delegates were put in place
too heal a divided party, we are a divided party. I beseech you to actually
listen."
"The Republicans have basically nominated a fascist. It's close. Please take
a critical look at this," said Delaware's Rebecca Powers.
"I think this is the time for this," said Miami's Bruce Jacobs. "You are
sending a message to all the people coming into the party."
The Rules Committee compromise came after heavy pressure from
Democratic-leaning organizations, who gathered more than 750,000 signatures
calling for change, flew a plane over Philadelphia Friday calling for an end
to super delegates, and sent thousands of tweets to rules committee members.
There was high-interest in the votes, and shouts of "shame, shame, shame"
from outside the committee room could be heard on a live Youtube stream of
the meeting.
The groups who urged the DNC to end super delegates include: Courage
Campaign, Credo, Daily Kos, Demand Progress/Rootstrikers, Democracy for
America, Center for Popular, Democracy, MoveOn, National Nurses United, New
Democrat Network, The Other 98%, Presente, Progressive Change Campaign
Committee, Progressive Democrats of America, Progressive Kick, Reform the
DNC, and Social Security Works.
(Editor's note: Another reform proposal, to push the party to open its
primaries to any registered voter, not just Democrats, was rejected on
Saturday evening. Today Open Primaries, a non-profit electoral reform
organization, brought 40,000 signed petitions to the meeting, a release
noted. "It was an honor to stand up for the 26.3 million registered voters
who couldn't vote in this presidential election," Maggie Wunderly, a Rules
Committee member from Illinois said in the release.)
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet, including
America's retirement crisis, democracy and voting rights, and campaigns and
elections. He is the author of "Count My Vote: A Citizen's Guide to Voting"
(AlterNet Books, 2008).
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Source URL:
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ission-reform-anti-democratic-super-delegates
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Sanders Delegates Push
DNC To Create Commission to Reform Anti-Democratic Super Delegates and
Caucus Process
[4] http://www.alternet.org/
[5] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
