Daily Kos

{update} NV Clinton campaign: "It's not illegal unless they tell you so"

by hekebolos

Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:01:55 PM PDT

UPDATE: See the actual complaint filed here.

By now, I'm sure you've all seen the diaries about the voter suppression activities benefitting the Clinton campaign at the Nevada caucuses last weekend.  Just to give a brief summary, there were what seemed like systmatic attempts by Clinton partisans to deny Obama supporters the right to caucus through a wide variety of tactics, including telling them they had to go caucus somehwere else, manipulation of voter cards, doors closing early, and a plethora of other complaints.

Well, the Obama campaign has filed an official complaint with the Nevada Democratic Party about the caucus process, saying that they had received more than 1600 complaints of voter fraud and intimidation by the Clinton campaign in Nevada.

But the most scandalous part of this whole thing is what the Clinton manual actually tells its caucus operatives.  It's outrageous.  More below the fold.

First, from the Time Article Obama campaign's letter to the Nevada Democratic Party:

The letter to Nevada Democratic Chairwoman Jill Derby from Obama lawyer Robert Bauer lists instances of early door closings, obstruction of voters, and improper handling of voter preference cards. Obama aides said the campaign has received more than 1,600 complaints, including 300 that came in to a hotline at the time of the caucuses.

Bauer said the campaign is not challenging the outcome of the caucuses at the precinct level, but he asked Derby to conduct an inquiry into the Clinton campaign tactics during the caucuses. The campaign offered to provide the names and contact information of the individuals making the complaints as well as unedited copies of their accounts.

So, for everyone who has said in previous diaries, "well, if you mean it, where's the complaint to the Nevada Democratic Party, huh?", there you go.  It has been filed officially by the Obama campaign, in addition to all the reports made to the party by individuals who witnessed the fraud in question.

But here's the most important part.  The Obama complaint alleges that the following instructions were given by the Clinton campaign to its caucus operatives:

Attached to the Obama complaint was an instruction sheet that Bauer's letter attributed to the Clinton campaign. The sheet offers guidance on how to persuade caucus goers to caucus for Clinton.

One line states: "It's not illegal unless they tell you so."

"This certainly suggests that, for the Clinton campaign, the operative standard was, simply and only, what it could get away with," Bauer wrote.

I don't know what more proof you need.  The Clinton campaign operatives were instructed to do everything they could get away with until and unless someone called them on it.

The volunteers for the Obamma campaign, meanwhile, were given detailed instructions on exactly what the laws of the caucuses allowed, and given explicit instructions to remain within the law at all times.

I want to make one thing specifically clear: If I had wanted to be counted in the caucus count in my precinct, I could have.  I had to explicitly exclude myself in the count.  If I had been following the Clinton campaign playbook, well, I would have gotten myself counted.  After all, the laws of the caucuses say you can't challenge voters!

I'm sorry, but I don't want another president whose campaign has the same level of respect for the law that George Bush does.

"It's not illegal unless they tell you so" is Bush neocon philosophy, not the philosophy of the Democratic Party.  And I won't associate myself with it.

Tags: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Nevada, caucus, 2008, elections, Recommended, president, primaries, Democrats (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

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