What Happened in Nevada? (Updates)

Well, what didn’t happen:

There was no data breach There was no disenfranchisement nor any accusation that the Clinton campaign was unable to properly seat any of its delegates due to malfeasance.  They just didn’t show up. There were accusations of cheating — against the Clinton campaign There were accusations of improper info sharing (apparently the delegate list?) — against the credential committee chair, a Sanders voter, and she was removed at the request of Clinton attorney Mark Elias.  She claims the Party and Clinton campaign were corresponding without including Sanders’ campaign, which violates policy. There was no attempt to pack the caucus, but rather to ensure Sanders didn’t lose any delegates, but many Clinton delegates failed to show up (allowing Sanders unelected delegates to take their spots) and/or changed their vote.  Clark County was a huge cluster, but there is no evidence that elected delegates and alternates who showed up were not seated.

On Friday night, accusations of cheating came from both sides, which resulted in the attempted removal of credential committee chair Christine Kramar.

“We caught the Hillary campaign cheating, we caught the Nevada Democratic Party secretary cheating,” said Angie Sullivan, another member of the credentials committee for the Clark County Democratic Convention. 

Sullivan alleges that the Clark County Democratic Party (CCDP) was sharing information with the Hillary Clinton campaign that was not being shared with the Bernie Sanders campaign, and this is why Kramer copied a Sanders campaign contact on an email correspondence with CCDP officials and Clinton campaign officials.

However, Clinton campaign attorney Marc E. Elias told a different story in a threatening email sent to CCDP Chair Chris Miller. Elias ordered Miller to remove Kramar from the credentials committee due to her sharing allegedly proprietary information belonging to the Clinton campaign with the Sanders campaign.

Kristal Glass, a Sanders delegate who was also a member of the credentials committee, [said] 

“It was [Kramar’s] job to make sure everything was fair leading up to the Friday night early registration,” Glass said. “She CC’d the Sanders campaign about a conversation happening that they weren’t included in, which was against the convention process.”

Glass alleged that Michelle White, political director for Hillary Clinton’s Nevada campaign, was pressuring volunteers at the registration site to register alternates as delegates.

“We had a member of a campaign walking around with a computer showing volunteers, saying, ‘They’re approved, so go ahead and add them. “It has to be brought to the credentials committee to vet the entire thing, that’s what our responsibility is.”

After Kramar reminded the Clinton campaign and CCDP officials of the party bylaws, all hell broke loose when CCDP officials attempted to act on the orders received from Marc Elias to remove Kramar as chair by calling an executive session:

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Today they managed to vote her out in a private meeting at 7:00 a.m., and called the police to remove her from the premises.

The other three members of the credentials committee, including the two delegates for Hillary Clinton, linked arms and sat down in the middle of the convention floor in solidarity with Kramar.

Those people who are jumping to conclusions about Sanders doing something wrong should take a step back and let the dust clear.  The Clinton delegates in the thick of it took the side of the Sanders delegate, which should count for something.

Update:

There was some confusing information given out about whether people had to be there on Saturday if they registered on Friday.  On Facebook and Event Brite, people were told that they didn’t have to show up on Saturday if they registered as a delegate on Friday:

From Clark County Democrats to everyone.

However, Clinton’s campaign sent this email to her delegates, making it clear that they did have to be there and that they should stay.  Update:  This letter was actually handed out to Hillary delegates at SEIU on Friday night, where all delegates had to register.  It was not handed to Sanders delegates.  They received a more generic form.

From Hillary for America to her delegates, handed out to them as they registered on Friday night.

With this crapped up information, it’s amazing anyone showed up on time where they were supposed to be.