Last December Judge Robert Hinkle made his ruling in Nelson v Dean. That lawsuit by Bill Nelson to force the DNC to seat Florida's delegates was filed on the issue of violation of civil rights. Nelson lost that suit.
Judge tells Nelson to sue the State of Florida on the civil rights issue, NOT the DNCHinkle said the Democratic National Committee has a right to set its schedule for primaries. The national party penalized Florida because it broke party rules by jumping the state's primary date ahead to Jan. 29.
To rule otherwise would be a free-for-all with all 50 states, Hinkle said. He gave the plaintiffs the choice to re-file under the voting rights act against the state of Florida if they choose."
There is also a
Supreme Court precedent from 1981.The 1981 Supreme Court decision for the case Democratic Party of U.S. v. Wisconsin, 450 U.S. 107 clearly states that the Democratic National Committee can make and enforce the rules on the delegate process.
"The State has a substantial interest in the manner in which its elections are conducted, and the National Party has a substantial interest in the manner in which the delegates to its National Convention are selected. But these interests are not incompatible, and to the limited extent they clash in this case, both interests can be preserved. The National Party rules do not forbid Wisconsin to conduct an open primary. But if Wisconsin does open its primary, it cannot require that Wisconsin delegates to the National Party Convention vote there in accordance with the primary results, if to do so would violate Party rules. Since the Wisconsin Supreme Court has declared that the National Party cannot disqualify delegates who are bound to vote in accordance with the results of the Wisconsin open primary, its judgment is reversed.
It is so ordered."
But even all that does not seem to be enough to deter the campaign of Hillary Clinton from deciding to change her view from September...that she would respect the ruling....to saying they will fight it.
The Hillary campaign has spoken out and said they will pursue the Florida delegates, even though the DNC ruled they could not be counted. That campaign said the rules of their campaign differed from those of the DNC. Interestingly enough...they are using the "civil rights" issue. The same issue on which the court ruled in favor of the DNC.
Turning the Florida votes into a civil rights issue.The rules the party has put in place to choose its nominee are not the rules of the Clinton campaign and, just like the Obama campaign, we are doing what we can under those rules to secure the requisite number of delegates for the nomination. One way to avoid the situation described above is to figure out some way to honor the votes of Michigan and Florida, where there was record turnout. Counting the delegates in Florida and Michigan is a civil rights issue, and a solution needs to be figured out before the convention.
As a result of the fact that Florida absolutely refuses to accept any responsibility for the lopsided vote to more up the primary...115 to 1 in favor..the media in Florida is almost unbearable to read. Florida Democrats won't speak out on what they did, and now Hillary's campaign is using the same old rhetoric.
No wonder the media here can print just any old thing and no one corrects them. Here is an example of what I read yesterday.
I give Howard Dean credit for chutzpah. After playing a vital part in disenfranchising Florida voters, he actually came to the Sunshine State yesterday, asked for money -- and got it.
Attorney John Morgan hosted a relatively intimate event for Dean at the Citrus Club ... intimate in part because Dean hasn't exactly endeared himself to Florida voters. Still, Morgan said he was able to rustle up an impressive $100k for the party. When Morgan mentioned that total, my first response was to utter a word that would apparently make my new CEO proud. (I'll give you a hint: It rhymes with "pulpit.") But Morgan swore he got that much. More on how and from whom in Thursday's column.
As for Dean, Morgan said he had no regrets about how he handled things, claiming it was out of his hands. I'm not sure I'm buying that. I mean, if nothing else, Dean has a pretty big bully pulpit ... and yes, this time, I meant that actual word.
Orlando Sentinel blogLet me see just how wrong that is. Dean helps the Florida party raise over $100,000 in Central Florida, after which he headed to Miami for a fundraiser for the party. Some of that money stays in Florida.
A Sentinel blogger says how he feels rhymes with "pulpit"...and that is just one blog. That is not conducive to having people understand the truth, and it is not very likely to get the real story out.
That real story was that
both Florida parties did it for "relevance."They did it to be important, to be big shots. Now those of us who have followed this story no longer trust people like Mark Penn, Bill Nelson, and even the state party chairman...even Hillary. They are not telling the truth. They simply are not.
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