Sanders Wins Battle With DNC & Shows He Is Better Than Clinton At Responding To Scandals

DWS v Sanders

It didn’t take long after the Sanders campaign carried out its threat to file suit against the Democratic National Committee for the DNC to give in and allow Sanders access to his voter data:

After midnight, Sanders and the DNC put out statements that both indicated the impasse had been resolved but that put remarkably different spins on the outcome. Sanders’s campaign said the DNC had “capitulated” and that Sanders would soon regain access to the data. The DNC said what happened was “completely unacceptable” and that it would continue to investigate the circumstances even as Sanders regained access to the valuable information.

I think that this result was inevitable. First, Clinton supporter Debbie Wasserman Schultz was clearly taking advantage of the situation to hinder the Sanders campaign at a moment when it was showing increased strength. Her actions were far out of proportion to the infraction committed by a Sanders staffer, who was subsequently fired. Secondly, the actions were in clear violation of party rules:

The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, argued that under a contract between the DNC and the campaign governing the data system’s use, formal notice in writing is required if either side believes the other has violated the deal. In addition, each side is supposed to be allowed 10 days to address any concerns, the suit said.

“The DNC may not suspend the Campaign’s access to critical Voter Data out of haste or desperation to clean up after the DNC’s own mistakes,” the suit says.

This incident shows the difference between the Sanders campaign and the Clinton/DNC camp. The Sanders campaign showed its integrity in both immediately reporting the breach and  firing the person responsible. Will Debbie Wasserman Schultz or anyone at the DNC be held accountable for their improper response to this on Friday?

Debbie Wasserman Schultz has also been talking about an independent audit. In contrast, look how hard Clinton fought to try to prevent her emails as Secretary of State from being released, with half of her emails having been deleted under the false claim of all the deleted email having been personal. How about a full audit of  donations to the Clinton Foundation, as suggested by Common Cause, in light of the unethical manner in which Clinton ruled on matters as Secretary of State involving parties contributing to the Foundation and paying unprecedented speaking fees to her husband?

The response by the Sanders campaign shows a major contrast with how the Clintons handle scandals. Instead of the usual denials and stone walling, the Sanders campaign took responsibility and resolved the matter. The Sanders camp also showed their strength in quickly winning this battle with the DNC.

It will be interesting to see if the increased conflict between Sanders and Clinton is reflected in tonight’s debate. Maybe now Sanders won’t be so quick to defend Clinton if her far more serious scandals should come up.

4 Comments

  1. 1
    Papamoka says:

    This stunt by DWS has backfired and only made on the fence people 100% pro Bernie Sanders.  Was there wrong doing, hell ya!  The person that was involved was immediately fired which is what any well run campaign should do.  The killer for the Clinton campaign will be when the independent audit and investigation comes up with the truth.  If Bernie's people knew about the glitch in the system then you can bet your bottom that the Hillary camp knew too.  The difference will be the findings of what the Hillary Camp did with that knowledge.  I personally know quite a few Bernie supporters that never signed up for emails from the Clinton campaign but get them?

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    I question if that means anything. I’m sure that there are multiple sources which a campaign could use to get potential Democratic voters for an email list.

  3. 3
    Esteban says:

    No body ever believe Senator Sanders could win…he best them all and will win to become our next President. My family is voting Sanders for President.

  4. 4
    JimZ says:

    A turn of events like this could have unexpected consequences in the primaries in Sanders' favor, especially in early states.  The Dem causus in my state is March 1st, a little more than 10 weeks away.

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