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ehrnst

(32,640 posts)
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 07:33 AM Aug 2016

NYT: Bernie Sanders’s New Political Group Is Met by Staff Revolt




Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, his presidential campaign now behind him, will look to advance the movement he built during the Democratic primary race, with the public unveiling on Wednesday of a political organization focused on addressing economic inequality and taking on special interests.

But while the establishment of the new group, Our Revolution, has been eagerly awaited by many of his most ardent supporters, it has been met with criticism and controversy over its financing and management.

A principal concern among backers of Mr. Sanders, whose condemnation of the campaign finance system was a pillar of his presidential bid, is that the group can draw from the same pool of “dark money” that Mr. Sanders condemned for lacking transparency.

The announcement of the group, which will be livestreamed Wednesday night, also comes as the majority of its staff resigned after the appointment last Monday of Jeff Weaver, Mr. Sanders’s former campaign manager, to lead the organization.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/us/politics/bernie-sanders-our-revolution-group.html
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stonecutter357

(12,682 posts)
1. Met by Staff Revolt, I don't blame them.
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 07:47 AM
Aug 2016

I would run to. It's looking more like a PAC than a Revolution.

 

ehrnst

(32,640 posts)
2. More from NBC
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 07:51 AM
Aug 2016
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/bernie-sanders-new-group-hits-major-trouble-launchpad-n636741

The group's entire organizing team quit, as did much of its digital team -- the group's two pillars -- including longtime Sanders digital director Kenneth Pennington, who sparred often with Weaver on the campaign.

Several of the staffers who resigned had received personal promises from Sanders that Weaver would not be involved, and he later called several to try to get them to stay, unsuccessfully, according to multiple sources.

Each staffer who quit sent personal letters of resignation to Sanders and executive director Shannon Jackson, several of which were obtained by NBC News. Many expressed regret and said they hoped Our Revolution would be successful, but each said they couldn't work with Weaver for various reasons.

"I share the concerns that much of the staff have about Jeff's competence and vision for OR, and don't want to be part of facilitating that vision," former data and analytics director Paul Schaffer wrote to Sanders.

 

ehrnst

(32,640 posts)
7. And the financing. But Bernie's judgment on advisors
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 08:31 AM
Aug 2016

is costing him in many ways.

"The shakeup reflects a long-running rift in the Sanders campaign between its older leadership, like Weaver, and its younger staffers, who saw themselves as more ideologically committed to the revolution and thought the consultants at the top were using the campaign to line their pockets."

 

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)
6. candidacies are not movements, no matter how much they may feel like one in the heat of an election
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 08:14 AM
Aug 2016

people thought Obama had started his own movement too.

Nope, he was just an exceptional candidate.

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