Bernie’s Statement about the Nevada State Convention

[Time for change]

I posted about the happenings at this convention a few days ago. Here is the statement that Bernie made about it, in part in response to inaccurate reports of violence at the convention. I have bolded the parts that I think are especially important to emphasize:

It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are outraged at establishment politics and establishment economics. The people of this country want a government which represents all of us, not just the 1 percent, super PACs and wealthy campaign contributors.

The Democratic Party has a choice. It can open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change – people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet. Or the party can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy.

Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization. Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a ‘penchant for violence.’ That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence. Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals. But, when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked.

If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned. I am happy to say that has been the case at state conventions in Maine, Alaska, Colorado and Hawaii where good discussions were held and democratic decisions were reached. Unfortunately, that was not the case at the Nevada convention. At that convention the Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place. Among other things:

* The chair of the convention announced that the convention rules passed on voice vote, when the vote was a clear no-vote. At the very least, the Chair should have allowed for a headcount.
* The chair allowed its Credentials Committee to en mass rule that 64 delegates were ineligible without offering an opportunity for 58 of them to be heard. That decision enabled the Clinton campaign to end up with a 30-vote majority.
* The chair refused to acknowledge any motions made from the floor or allow votes on them.
* The chair refused to accept any petitions for amendments to the rules that were properly submitted.

These are on top of failures at the precinct and county conventions including trying to depose and then threaten with arrest the Clark County convention credentials chair because she was operating too fairly.

[Time for change]

1. Los Angeles Times does a hatchet job on Bernie

The Los Angeles Times article is despicable, having no other purpose than to discredit Bernie Sanders and his supporters.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-sanders-convention-20160517-snap-story.html

They say that Sanders delegates at the Nevada State Convention were angry because he lost delegates there while saying nothing whatsoever about the fact that the anger was the result of extreme abuse of power by the Convention Chairperson, who made rulings on voice votes which had no basis in reality and then refused demands for head counts, though the rules require that. That is all captured on video, but the Times apparently wasn't interested in reviewing that.

It notes that a reason for him losing delegates was that they were "ruled ineligible", without even mentioning the fact that the Sanders delegates who were ruled ineligible strenuously disagreed with the ruling but were given no chance at the convention to argue their case.

It talks about violence at the convention, including vandalizing of buildings and death threats against the chairperson, though they provide no source for that claim, which is vociferously denied by many who attended the convention.

They say that Harry Reid spoke to Sanders and urged him to condemn the violence -- as if the violence is fact rather than rumor, and then say that Bernie refused to do that, without even noting the part of Bernie's statement that deals with the issue: He rightfully denied that his delegates perpetrated violence at the convention, then goes on to say that "Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals". The Times doesn't even mention that part of his statement.

Nonetheless, the LA Times says that he blames the violence on the Democratic Party officials at the convention without noting that he didn't "blame" the violence on anyone, he denied the claims of violence, and blamed the peaceful protests of his delegates on Democratic Party officials who flagrantly abused their power to steal delegates from him.

They quote DSW as saying that Bernie's statement "seems to excuse their supporter's actions, which is inexcusable", implying that the actions in question were violence rather than peaceful protest. And it quotes Harry Reid as saying "Bernie should say something and not have some silly statement that someone else prepared for him".

With grossly irresponsible reporting of "news" like that, winning CA is going to be an uphill climb for Bernie, but he's won several other states despite the many obstructions thrown up against his campaign.