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Showing Original Post only (View all)Democrats Plan to Name Lobbyists, Operatives as Superdelegates [View all]
This doesn't make me very happy at all.
The Democratic Party this week plans to name 75 people including lobbyists and political operatives to leadership posts that come with superdelegate votes at its next presidential convention, potentially aggravating old intraparty tensions as it struggles to confront President Donald Trump.
The new members-at-large of the Democratic National Committee will vote on party rules and in 2020 will be convention delegates free to vote for a primary candidate of their choice. They include lobbyists for Venezuelas national petroleum company and for the parent company of Fox News, according to a list obtained by Bloomberg News. At least three of the people worked for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in 2016 while also casting ballots as superdelegates.
The superdelegate system has been a focus of complaints from supporters of Sanders, the Vermont senator who challenged Clinton, and activists on the left, who have said the partys nominating system is rigged in favor of corporate interests. While most superdelegates are elected to a public or party office, the at-large DNC members are chosen by party leaders.
The appointment of active corporate lobbyists as at-large members of the 447-member Democratic National Committee has aroused controversy in the past.
I will register my customary objections" to the selection of at-large members, said Christine Pelosi, a California-based vice-chair of the DNC who in February authored a proposal to bar the appointment of corporate lobbyists as superdelegates. The national committee voted down her proposal.
MORE: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-18/democrats-plan-to-name-lobbyists-operatives-as-superdelegates