I voted for you, I donated to your campaign twice, and made phone calls for you.
Though I agree that Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been biased against you throughout this process, and though I think you have some very legitimate complaints with her and the way she has run things as DNC chair during the primaries, I believe you need to come out A LOT more forcefully against the online threats and harassment and doxxing that some of your supporters recently engaged in. That sort of behavior is beyond the pale, and needs to be addressed forcefully and clearly and directly by you.
In the statement you released, you waited until the middle of the third paragraph to address this awful behavior and only dedicated a sentence to it. That’s not good enough. You need to publicly condemn this behavior first and foremost. Lead with it - come out and condemn it in no uncertain terms. It is only after you have addressed this issue clearly that you can move on. Right now it’s hurting you and dragging your campaign down and turning off voters who may want to vote for you (and who may want to vote for other progressive candidates down the road as well — aka., the future).
Address it and you can renew your focus on California and also raise issues with the way Debbie Wasserman Schultz is appointing delegates for various committees for the convention. This latter-most issue is a very valid criticism that you have every right to make. I think most fair-minded people would agree that this raises the question of unfairness against your campaign and that the appointments made thus far don’t reflect the percentage of the Democratic electorate that you have legitimately won during the primaries.
However, due to the controversy surrounding the online threats and harassment, you aren’t in a good position to raise this very legitimate complaint at this moment. Come out forcefully and unequivocally against the threats and harassment as soon as possible!
You have often said during this campaign that this movement was about more than just you. Prove it by stepping up and doing the right thing and condemning clearly and unequivocally the threats and harassment and doxxing. If we want this movement to last beyond this election (and I very much do), we can’t let the ugliness of this sort of hate-filled behavior become associated with the movement. You need to lead on this issue. We need to protect the gains that have been made for progressive causes via your candidacy, and not throw it all away via ill will generated by the bad behavior of some of your most vociferous supporters.
Thank you for hearing me out,
MC