DNC SUPERDELEGATE PROMOTING BROKERED CONVENTION IS A SIGNIFICANT GOP DONOR, HEALTH CARE LOBBYIST

[Uncle Joe]

WILLIAM OWEN, a Tennessee-based Democratic National Committee member backing an effort to use so-called superdelegates to select the party’s presidential nominee — potentially subverting the candidate with the most voter support — is a Republican donor and health care lobbyist.

Owen, who runs a lobbying firm called Asset & Equity Corporations, donated to Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and gave $8,500 to a joint fundraising committee designed to benefit Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky in 2019.

“I am a committed Democrat but as a lobbyist, there are times when I need to have access to both sides and the way to get access quite often is to make campaign contributions,” said Owen, in a brief interview with The Intercept.

(snip)

The Intercept previously reported on the potential for party insiders — including corporate lobbyists and lawmakers funded by special interests — to cut a backroom deal to block a more populist candidate from the nomination. Several superdelegates are consultants to health care clients lobbying against Medicare for All. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase each employ lobbyists who simultaneously serve as superdelegates.

(snip)

https://theintercept.com/2020/02/27/dnc-superdelegate-convention-gop-donor/

[David__77]

1. Fine to compile data.

That said, I didn’t look at the article and wonder what was actually said by the individuals. If highly general, meh.

[blm]

2. Republicans pushing Operation Chaos in SC will probably assure more

Republican dirty tricksters voting statewide to influence the outcome of the Dem primary than the African American vote.

[msongs]

3. as opposed to those who favor a back room deal to impose a plurality nominee over the will of a

majority?

[George II]

4. Unfortunately that article doesn't definitively say exactly what Owen is doing to promote....

...a "brokered" convention. In fact the word brokered appears only twice in the article - the headline and this vague paragraph:

In recent days, several candidates, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, have embraced the potential for a brokered convention, in which superdelegates could be used to stop Sanders.

This looks like an article written by Fang to merely bash "lobbyists" and Owen with little substance about the convention at all.

[Uncle Joe]

5. This article is referring to the Times article.

(snip)

Owen, currently registered as lobbyist for Klox Technologies, a medical product company, was quoted in the New York Times today as one of the party insiders considering an effort to block Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s path to the nomination at the DNC convention in Milwaukee this July.

A former member of the Tennessee state legislature, Owen is currently an executive member of the Tennessee Democratic Party and DNC, making him one of the 771 unpledged delegates, also known as superdelegates, who could play a hand in selecting the presidential nomination. Owens is a supporter of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and has pushed to use superdelegates to make Biden the nominee.

The Tennessee Democrat worked in 2018 to block a Sanders-backed plan to weaken the role of superdelegates in the nomination process. “If we don’t have a vote, then what good are we?” Owen told Politico at the time.

The push was ultimately defeated. Sanders’s supporters won a key concession from the DNC, changing the rules to only allow superdelegate participation in the nominating process on the second ballot.

(snip)

https://theintercept.com/2020/02/27/dnc-superdelegate-convention-gop-donor/

[msongs]

6. so sanders is good with superdelegates on the second ballot lol when they might vote for Him

"The push was ultimately defeated. Sanders’s supporters won a key concession from the DNC, changing the rules to only allow superdelegate participation in the nominating process on the second ballot."

[Uncle Joe]

7. I believe Bernie would just as soon not have any super-delegates,

that was just part of the compromise between progressives and the establishment.

[George II]

8. Still a lot of speculation and theorizing: "....one of the party insiders considering an effort...."

Has Owen actually said he would be doing anything specific? The NY Times doesn't say anything about it either, just that the 93 superdelegates would not "hand" the nomination to Sanders.

We all have to remember that if no candidate gets a majority of pledged delegates on the first ballot, they ALL are release of their "pledged" obligation to vote for their candidate on the second ballot, AND the super delegates would vote as well.

If any candidate gets 35% or so of the delegates and others get say 30 and 25, there would be NO "clear leader" (reminder, he was claiming a "clear lead" after New Hampshire even though Buttigieg had more delegates at the time!) and the delegates, elected and super, would use their best judgement to vote for one of the three or four with a significant number of delegates going it.

There's no "plot" to do anything, these people are adults with functioning minds, and they're speculating on what might happen should there be a second ballot or more.

I can already see the Convention being set up as being "rigged" again in the eyes of some.

One more thing to remember, Sanders and his people were instrumental in establishing the rules under which the convention and delegates will be operating. ALL the candidates, including Sanders, knew what the rules were before they became candidates, and there's nothing in the rules that states the candidate with the most delegates in a plurality vote should get the nomination. In fact, he stated that in the past long before we're at right now.

[MFGsunny]

10. + 1000 n/t

[OilemFirchen]

9. This man gets the same number of votes as superdelegate Bernie Sanders.

Next excuse, please.

[Dem Femme Fatale]

13. First

You made no substantive argument or retort; just deflected with a trying too hard to be pithy canned answer.

Are you in favor of Republicans crossing over to mess with the SC results?

I'm not.

Nor am I in favor of a Republican donating enough to buy being made a superdelegate, but your response seems to buttress your support for this?

That's sad.

[OilemFirchen]

14. No hard feelings.

Here's a pumpkin:

[Dem Femme Fatale]

15. ?

Is that supposed to be a sexist derogatory joke by referring to me as pumpkin and being dismissive?

You'd think people would learn....

[CentralMass]

11. It is a corrupt system run by monied interests.

[Uncle Joe]

12. Thank you CentralMass and I agree.