Sanders Meets With Former Staff Members, Seeking to Quell Anxiety Over Sexism

[ehrnst]

Mr. Sanders met with roughly two dozen former workers for about an hour in a conference room at a hotel near the Capitol. The meeting was convened in response to a recent letter sent by more than two dozen people who worked on Mr. Sanders’s 2016 campaign, asking to meet with the senator and his leadership team to discuss issues of harassment.

The senator did not make himself available for comment afterward, and some attendees said they preferred to keep the discussions private. One woman said she found the meeting exhausting but declined to elaborate.
................................................................................................................

Among those close to Mr. Sanders who attended were Jeff Weaver, his 2016 campaign manager, and Ari Rabin-Havt, Mr. Sanders’s deputy chief of staff. There were also some people from his campaign arm, including Arianna Jones, a communications aide. Mr. Sanders’s wife, Jane Sanders, made a brief appearance.

Mr. Sanders skipped an important Senate vote on Russia sanctions to attend the meeting around noontime. He was the only senator not to appear as Republicans blocked a Democratic resolution to prevent the Trump administration from easing sanctions on a Russian oligarch. The measure, which required 60 votes to proceed, was defeated, 57 to 42, and his vote would not have affected the outcome.

There were some signs of trouble even before the meeting began. Some attendees were upset that the draft of the agenda did not directly address specific allegations of mistreatment of women, or say which top Sanders aides would attend. Several women said the travel logistics were poorly handled, with some saying they were not invited until 48 hours before the daylong meeting was scheduled to begin.

Still, the meeting was the most concrete attempt yet by Mr. Sanders and his advisers to calm unease among former workers and supporters after allegations emerged about mistreatment of women during his 2016 campaign. Reports in the past two weeks by The New York Times and Politico described accounts of harassment and discrimination of former staffers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/us/politics/bernie-sanders-discrimination-sexism.html

[yardwork]

1. Sanders dropped into the meeting for an hour?

And Sanders didn't bother to vote to uphold sanctions against Russian criminals who stole the 2016 election.

It's difficult for me to express my contempt.

[ehrnst]

2. The legislative day starts at noon. I'm surprised he didn't take an hour during the scheduled recess

from 11:00 to noon, or earlier in the day, in order to be sure he was on the floor for any votes, especially one that sanctioned an international Oligharch.

And two dozen staffers wanted to meet with him about this?

That's way more than I thought.

[obamanut2012]

4. His staff also confiscated the women's phones

And, the main accuser was also not invited.

[NurseJackie]

7. It disgusted me when Trump's handlers confiscated phones, when Romney's handlers tried to...

... and it's just as offensive to me when Bernie's handlers do it. Why do this? What are they afraid of?

[ehrnst]

11. Well, that was certainly respectful and trusting of their own former fellow staffers.

[LongtimeAZDem]

12. Wow; they took the phones? Not what I would call "transparent". /nt

[George II]

17. That's not the way a person who is "apologetic" and wants to "do better" would act.

Based on accounts of that meeting, I'm sure this is not over.

[R B Garr]

20. Wow! Confiscating phones?! So NO transparency is even

considered. Just a controlled meeting — barring certain accusers, barring phones, barring transparency. Outrageous double standards.

And skipping a vote on Russian sanctions to boot. Tad Devine used to work with Paul Manafort...

[Me.]

24. That Just About Tells The Entire Story

Not really interested just CYA

[Gothmog]

25. That move shows that they were not interested in solving the problems

[mcar]

31. What?

That is outrageous. Boy, what a climate of trust.

[MrsCoffee]

32. Holy shit.

This is fucked up.

[ananda]

14. There's something wrong with Sanders these days.

Luckily, I don't think he's a viable candidate for 2020,
too many really good Dems (except for Gillibrand).

[lilactime]

3. That just sounds like window dressing to me.

I also have to wonder why he scheduled such an important meeting at the same time as the Russia vote and I also find it insulting that it lasted only one hour considering what the meeting was about.

[ehrnst]

16. The meeting was scheduled for all day, and he came by at noon for about an hour.

Last edited Thu Jan 17, 2019, 11:48 AM - Edit history (1)

Many times vote times change, but noon is always when the legislative part of the day starts.

The thing is, he could have made it a point to do his drop-in before noon, and made sure that he was on the floor for all votes, especially one concerning thwarting an oligarch.

[George II]

18. Not only that, but voting takes only a minute or two. I was anxious to see how the vote would go...

....so I watched it on C-Span. Many Senators entered the Chamber, walked up to the clerk to vote, then left - all of a minute or two.

For some reason he simply didn't want to vote, and it appears he really didn't want to spend much time at HIS meeting with the victims of abuse in his campaign, either.

[R B Garr]

21. "Thwarting an oligarch" -- excellent framing there and a great point.

If you are so against oligarchs, then surely you would be for sanctioning them. But, no. Interesting.

[ehrnst]

33. Lord knows they weren't planning it very far in advance, despite the request from the 2 dozen in Dec

Tad Devine may have advised Sanders this weekend that a meeting needs to happen ASAP for damage control.

Unfortunately, this appears to have done even more damage, because of the way it's been handled.

They can't undo choosing Rich Pellitier to head up "Organizing for Bernie" even with hastily firing him last week after his behavior during the campaign went public.

It just appears to be remorse on the part of Sanders and the campaign for getting caught.

After all, he ignored it for nearly two full years after Sanders was told about it.

[Frances]

5. Sanders time has passed

There are too many excellent Democrats with no baggage running for President
Why would a Democrat vote for an independent with so much baggage?
In addition to the sexual harassment charges, Sanders has not released his full taxes, a deal killer, for me. Also, he,s not anti-Putin enough for me

[NurseJackie]

9. Excellent observations. Especially the last one. His absence for the sanctions vote...

Excellent observations. Especially the last one. His absence for the sanctions vote is disturbing, but considering his voting history of opposition to ANY Russian sanctions, it remains unclear how he would have voted anyway. But, for all practical purposes: silence = approval.

[honest.abe]

6. Too little too late.

Sanders is finished.

[we can do it]

8. Why did he not bother to vote on Russian sanctions?

[NurseJackie]

13. Considering his voting history of opposition to ANY Russian sanctions...

Considering his voting history of opposition to ANY Russian sanctions, it remains unclear how he would have voted anyway. I think this was an intentional absence so that he could avoid the appearance of hypocrisy (ie: reversing his previous stances) and so that he could avoid the appearance of doing something that CLEARLY benefits Russia at this critical moment in our history (ie: voting with the GOP to lift the sanctions).

But, honestly... I think it's fair to say that for all practical purposes: silence = approval. This was an ALL HANDS ON DECK moment! Would his vote, or his presence helped to sway three other Republicans? Win or lose, every vote counts.

[WeekiWater]

10. "Daylong meeting"

"Mr. Sanders met with roughly two dozen former workers for about an hour"

I think they are trying to judge how large the fall-out from this is going to be. What impact it will have on his possible primary run.

[George II]

19. Considering that the two dozen or so traveled to Washington from around the country and....

....he spent a mere hour with them, I don't think this is over.

Even if we ignore the sexual predator culture (the term used in the letter, and I'm not suggesting that we DO ignore it, it's far far too important!), we should remember that one of the cornerstones of his campaign is "income inequality". He spent months traveling around the country campaigning against income inequality all while his own campaign, which HE put together, was a major offender.

Pervasive sexual harassment notwithstanding, the income inequality in his campaign is hypocritical.

[ehrnst]

26. I wonder if Jane explained this to them, which some felt betrayed by:

And maybe they got an explanation for why Carmona & Velasquez apparently got sterling references from the campaign for their subsequent jobs for the President of Mexico, and chief of staff for Rep. Chuy Garcia, respectively..

And maybe they were told why the hell Rich Pelletier, who repeatedly feigned ignorance each time this sexist behavior was reported to him, who promoted them and covered for them and endorsed them later on was heading up the new Organizing for Bernie org up until just a week ago when what the campaign has known about him for years finally went public?

Maybe they got some of those answers. But somehow, I doubt it.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

15. Fuck this guy.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. We can do better.

[Gothmog]

23. One of my friends was evidently excluded from this meeting

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016224223
Sarah was one of the sanders workers cited in the NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign-sexism.html

Political campaigns can be grueling experiences for both the women and men involved. But some involved said they considered the treatment of women on the Sanders campaign especially upsetting because the senator positioned himself as a champion of progressive ideals and equality, according to interviews and messages shared on Facebook.

“I don’t think he has to be the vehicle or the platform for the movement that emerged from his campaign,” said Sarah Slamen, who worked for the campaign in Texas, was the state coordinator in Louisiana and helped build out Our Revolution, a progressive organization born from Mr. Sanders’s presidential campaign.

“Do you know how hard that is for me to say after working so hard for him?” she said.

Ms. Slamen quit the organization at the end of 2016 after she said she was berated by a male member of the Our Revolution steering committee for suggesting an organizing plan. In emails reviewed by The Times, she raised issues about sexist behavior with committee members who saw the incident and Our Revolution’s national board of directors. She said she received no reassurance that anything would change.

I gave Sarah a sanders sign that was used on the floor of the National Convention that I brought back from the convention.

[ehrnst]

27. Some of the women who spoke up were retaliated against, harshly.

Masha Mendieto says that Sanders staff and allies were very angry:

And where are the women who spoke out? The two who worked for Our Revolution have since been fired. The one who was a board member was pushed out. I’ve lost jobs because when people google my name they see the story about Arturo. So-called feminist allies badmouth me to clients once they find out I’ve been hired, even though they’ve never actually worked with me before. You know who you are. The job offers instantly dried up and the friendship line went silent. The retaliation is real, and it’s hypocritical as hell.

The California Nurses Association, a well-known funder and ally to the Bernie movement, was particularly vicious. They endorsed Arturo heavily in the CA-34 race that my outing exploded. They were not happy. At the People’s Summit, which they funded, they harassed one of the women who had come out and was slated to lead a session there. RoseAnn DeMoro had someone cut her mic and physically block access to the session. DeMoro also cornered another woman and told her it was because of what she did in the CA-34 race. And they did this in front of everyone. Not quite the progressive allies after all, huh?

https://medium.com/mashamendieta/be-your-own-hero-because-bernie-is-not-it-c4add2e08029

[Gothmog]

30. This is consistent with the way that the sanders campaign treated Sarah Slamen

[George II]

29. Interesting that Our Revolution was at the highest level...

...was involved, too. Nina Turner is their president. A woman!!

[Scurrilous]

28. K&R

[Cha]

34. No excuses for missing the very important "symbolic rebuke"

vote against Russia. And, he didn't even know how close the vote would be.

The meetings, which stretched for almost a full day, began near Capitol Hill on Tuesday evening and picked up after the full group convened for breakfast on Wednesday morning.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/01/16/politics/bernie-sanders-sexual-harassment-campaign-meeting-2020/

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11682589


Senate Democrats' effort to block Trump move on Russia sanctions fails

The sanctions resolution from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, which required 60 votes to proceed, was defeated in a 57-42 vote. Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders missed the vote.

But the result still represented a symbolic rebuke of the Treasury Department's decision in December to lift the sanctions on the companies tied to Deripaska, a Kremlin ally. Eleven Republicans joined with Democrats to support Schumer's resolution, arguing that the Trump administration erred in deciding to lift sanctions on Rusal, the world's second-largest aluminum producer, as well as EN+ Group and JSC EuroSibEnergo.

Wednesday's vote came one day after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin went to Capitol Hill in an effort to ease Republican senators' concerns about the sanctions plan. He failed to convince those 11 Republicans who broke with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell later Tuesday to vote with Democrats on Schumer's resolution.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/16/politics/senate-democrats-sanctions-russia/index.html

The only one to miss the vote was Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. He was meeting with women who had accused his 2016 presidential campaign of sexual misconduct, his spokesman, Josh Miller-Lewis, told CNBC.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/16/senate-democrats-vote-to-block-trump-from-lifting-russia-sanctions-fails.html

Link to tweet

[ehrnst]

36. Indeed.(nt)

[Cha]

37. KICK for extended exposure.

[betsuni]

35. K&R