Growing backlash demands superdelegates vote Sanders

Dan D'Ambrosio, Free Press Staff Writer 8:29 a.m. EDT April 10, 2016

A growing number of Vermonters are expressing outrage that four of the state's most prominent Democratic Party superdelegates have committed to vote for Hillary Clinton rather than Bernie Sanders, despite Sanders' overwhelming victory in Vermont's primary.
By the end of last week, some 3,000 people had signed an open letter posted online by advocacy group Rights & Democracy that exhorted Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Gov. Peter Shumlin; former Gov. and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean; and party Committeewoman Billi Gosh to cast their superdelegate votes for "our fellow Vermonter Bernie Sanders," to "honor democracy in action.

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Bert Johnson, chairman of the political science department at Middlebury College, said it would be "very unusual" for superdelegates to go against the will of elected delegates at the national convention.

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Then why, one might ask, does the Democratic Party have superdelegates to begin with — especially since the Republican Party lacks them?

"We've had them since 1984," Johnson said. "The goal was to bring party insiders back into the nomination process after they were excluded after 1968 election reforms. In the 1970s, primaries and open caucuses were elevated as a way to select delegates. The Democrats were upset the system produced (George) McGovern and (Jimmy) Carter, a couple of candidates outside the system."
In Johnson's opinion, superdelegates have failed to affect the election process in any meaningful way.

"I think it has not achieved what they were intending to achieve, which was to give control back to party elites," he said. "They have not made the difference. Clearly in 2008, an outside candidate, Barack Obama, won the nomination."
Superdelegates persist, Johnson said, because it costs too much time and money to get rid of them by rewriting the rules. "Like the Electoral College, superdelegates don't make sense," he said.

James Haslam, founder of the nonprofit Rights & Democracy, agrees and said, "It strikes us as fundamentally undemocratic to have Vermont superdelegates support the candidate Vermonters are not supporting."

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/10/vermont-superdelegate-vote-backlash/82759994/

LOTS more at link

Dean is still being stubborn but Leahy's manager says "Senator Leahy's personal support is with Secretary Clinton. His delegate vote will go to the candidate with the most pledged delegates at the National Convention."

I find that at least sensible. The governor and Billi Gosh the Dem. National Chairwoman from Vt. says that they will support Clinton no matter what. When so many changed to Obama in '08, Gosh says that she didn't. Wow... And not having SDs gave us Jimmy Carter. One of the most progressive President's in modern times. Such a shame that so many see that as a bad thing.