I’ve just finished watching DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Sanders Campaign Manager Jeff Weaver on MSNBC.
Speaking entirely for myself, I am utterly disgusted with Shultz. Her explanation for seizing the proprietary data of the Sanders campaign amounts, at best, to little more than a confession of political extortion. She essentially admitted to holding the data of the Sanders campaign hostage until the Sanders’ campaign provides her with explanations and assurances that she deems sufficient. In the course of this, she indicated that Sanders campaign had not yet given such explanations and assurances and this forced her to take the extraordinary step of locking them out of their own data.
Turns out, that isn’t exactly a true statement. Weaver responded to this claim by offering a copy of the message he had sent to the DNC specifically responding to their queries and offering to provide any further information they might request. According to Weaver the DNC never responded.
Obviously, this makes hash of Shultz’s stated pretext.
Shultz didn’t stop there though. She offered a second justification for her action by claiming it was necessary in order to insure there would be no further breaches.
This, to put it mildly, is self serving hypocrisy. Reportedly, these breaches were the result of system failures that crashed the firewall that limits access to proprietary data to the campaign that produced it. If this is accurate, it means that any search by any operative of any campaign while the fire wall was down would result in accessing the proprietary data of all the campaigns, regardless of the user’s intention. In short, Shultz is arguing that she has the right to kneecap the Sanders campaign because she and the DNC cannot insure that the firewall won’t collapse.
To sum up; Shultz and the DNC are asserting the right to seize the proprietary data of the Sanders campaign and deny them access indefinitely until some unspecified standard of “proof” satisfactory to Shultz and Co. is met. They further assert that such action is necessary to avoid breaches that have, in fact, resulted from the failures of their own software.
This doesn’t pass the laugh test, much less the smell test.
Given the above, I think the decision by the Sanders Campaign to bring suit against the DNC is not only justified but an absolute necessity. The only way we are are going to get an accurate accounting of events is through an independent audit or, failing that, through judicial discovery.
There’s really no choice if Shultz and Co. insist on behaving like political gangsters.