DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's insistence on sticking to a six debate schedule, and her conduct while insisting on that,
is now drawing criticism not just from Democratic presidential candidates and Democratic activists, but from two DNC vice chairs. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak had called for more than six debates, and Gabbard said that she was disinvited from the first debate as a result. In response to Gabbard's criticisms, Wasserman Schultz said she had consulted with the DNC officers about the debate schedule. That claim seems to have drawn Rybak's ire:
In a telephone interview Thursday, Mr. Rybak weighed in angrily in response, expressing shock that Ms. Wasserman Schultz “would knowingly say something that is flat-out not true.”
“This is not a back-and-forth between a chair and a vice chair,” he said. “This is a chair of the Democratic Party wrongly stating that she consulted with all of the party officers. I was not consulted. I know that Tulsi Gabbard was not consulted. And this is becoming about much more than debates.”
And, uh, it's not just Rybak and Gabbard vs. Wasserman Schultz:
Informed of Mr. Rybak’s remarks, Amy Dacey, the Democratic National Committee’s chief of staff, essentially conceded that Ms. Gabbard and Mr. Rybak had not been consulted about the debate schedule before it was determined.
“There is no signoff or formal consultation process on debates,” Ms. Dacey said in an email. “Rather, our vice chairs were notified just as they are on other major decisions such as the one to select Philadelphia as the site of the convention.”
Ouch. Defending your debate schedule—however laden with holiday-adjacent weekends it may be—and calling on your vice chairs to be loyal soldiers is one thing. Lying while doing so is another. Wasserman Schultz is getting support from some other DNC officers, but they should really consider that they're now supporting her for lying publicly. Not a good look for anyone.