New questions complicate Ellison's bid for DNC chair

[DonViejo]

BY JONATHAN EASLEY - 12/21/16 06:00 AM EST

Opponents of Rep. Keith Ellison’s bid to be the next Democratic National Committee chairman are raising new questions about the Minnesota Democrat’s past to make the case that he’s unfit to be the party’s next leader.

Ellison's critics in the DNC and some supporters of Labor secretary Tom Perez, the other top candidate, are pointing to the Minnesota Democrat’s past tax troubles, campaign finance violations and minor legal issues that once led to his driver’s license being suspended as evidence that he’s ill-equipped to lead the DNC.

Some of those instances date back to the 1990s. All of the issues have been rectified and were previously used in attacks against Ellison during his first run for House in 2006.

That year, Ellison’s then-wife, Kim Ellison, who acted as his campaign treasurer, wrote to the Minneapolis Star Tribune to accept responsibility for all of the violations.

more
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/311270-old-finance-woes-haunt-ellisons-dnc-bid

[yallerdawg]

1. Lessons we have learned.

Obama - clean, pristine record.

Hillary - questions and baggage.

Sanders - "pure as driven snow."

Ellison - questions and baggage.

What have we learned?

[mythology]

8. Republicans would disagree with you about Obama

Associations with Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright, birther stuff, etc. The difference is outside of Republicans none of it stuck. With Clinton it did especially with the second Comey announcement being so close to the election.

[yurbud]

2. as long as it's someone with NO ties to the DLC and the safe state strategy

[NCDem777]

3. The Obama Dems

let state and local parties whither on the vine and diverted resources to OFA.

How'd that work?

Time to at least give Ellison a fair shot. He can't possibly be more of incompetent twit than DWS.

[Gothmog]

7. I really do not want a Sanders support to be DNC chair

[NCDem777]

9. And why not?

The establishment can't seem to win unless the Republicans shoot themselves in the foot first.

Is that sustainable going forward? The Repukes are a couple states away from being able to replace the Constitution with a copy of Atlas Shrugged. Can we afford to do more of the same? Chasing after rightwing voters who won't vote for us in a million years and tell progressives to just suck it up when we support the same rightwing warmongering and more polite versions of the same rightwing policies that got us into this damn mess.

Yes some Sanders supporters are abrasive assholes but sometimes assholes have a point.

We can't keep trying to appeal to antiwar Dems and when we're out of power then say "Psyche!" and drag us deeper into elective conflicts when we get the Presidency.

We can't say we're pro-helping the middle class and pro-putting checks on corporate power and then turn around and nominate someone who supported the TPP right up until a primary opponent starts nailing her on it.

[Gothmog]

10. For a host of reasons including that Sanders is not a member of the Democratic Party

Sanders had no chance of being the nominee after Super Tuesday but continued his campaign which hurt Clinton. Here is a good example Sanders really hurt Clinton I am still mad at the number of times that trump used Sanders' claims against Clinton. Sanders' baseless charges that the system was fixed and rigged were used by trump to great effect and hurt Clinton http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rigged-system-donald-trump_us_5855cb44e4b08debb7898607?section=us_politics

And if Sanders’ rhetoric during the primaries started that stew simmering with his talk about the system only working for the rich, Trump brought it to a full boil with his remarks blaming undocumented immigrants and trade agreements that he claimed were forged as the result of open corruption.

I think he was able to thread a certain toxic needle. But he did win, and we’re all going to pay the price.
John Weaver, aide to Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential campaign

The underlying irony for those who sought to end what they perceived as corruption is that they may well have elected a president whose record through the years and whose actions since the election signal it could be the most openly corrupt administration in generations.....

And if Sanders’ rhetoric during the primaries started that stew simmering with his talk about the system only working for the rich, Trump brought it to a full boil with his remarks blaming undocumented immigrants and trade agreements that he claimed were forged as the result of open corruption.

Sanders' bogus rigged process claim hurt a great deal

[NCDem777]

11. But Keith Ellison is a member of the Dem party

Yes Trump echoed Sanders' talking points but he probably would have said something similar anyway. Especially after the internal e-mails got leaked due to some idiot opening a spam e-mail. And Russians or not, the establishment wrote those goddamned e-mails. And to be honest, the first mistake was running a pro-trade deal candidate when the other side was running an anti-trade candidate. You pretty much handed the Rust Belt to him on a platter.

Fact is, we need to try something different. Keith Ellison proposes a return to the 50 state strategy that helped us mop the floor with Repukes in 06-08.

What has Perez proposed? More of the same focusing exclusively on urban issues and hoping the Repukes shoot themselves in the foot like we've done every election since the DLC took power?

[RBInMaine]

17. Um, the DLC no longer exists. So enough of that VERY DEAD HORSE. But yes, we need a new approach.

[Gothmog]

5. I have met and like Keith Ellison but I do not support his bid for DNC chair

I do not want a sanders supporter to be DNC chair and I am supporting Tom Perez

[vi5]

6. All I know is...

..whoever the current power players want, and whoever has the most ties to whoever has been running the show for the past 8 years is automatically someone I'm against.

I'm not concerned with liberal vs. conservative as much as I am vehemently against anyone who the people responsible for our current shit show of a party structure want. That seems to be Perez.

And I find it ironic that many of the same folks who fall on the fainting couches at the idea of "purity tests" and "making perfect the enemy of the good" are smearing Ellison because he's not.....wait for it.....perfect.

[NCDem777]

12. Frankly we're too scared to have some "standards of admission"

I think we need to stop worrying about "purity tests" and start holding potential office runners to basic standards. Not only do they have to be pro-civil rights, but they need to be pro-reining in megacorps.

No more lillylivered blue poodles. No more compromising with Randians.

[jack_krass]

13. +1

[tritsofme]

14. The ADL has called his comments and actions disqualifying, I stand with them.

This man should not lead our party.

[NCDem777]

15. Bear in mind

1. The tapes that the ADL is commenting on were selectively edited.

http://forward.com/opinion/356028/revealed-the-full-keith-ellison-tape-shows-he-was-mostly-praising-israel-no/

2. He kind of has a point. We do give Israel far too much influence over our foreign policy.

We got involved in Syria largely because it would be good for Israel. Regardless of what you think of the Clinton emails, the fact is there are emails on there that prove she pushed us into getting us into a war because Israel wanted Assad gone,

We got involved in Iraq in part because Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and influential citizens like Natenyahu demanded we depose Saddam. The former was quoted as saying to U.S. government officials:

"The greatest US assistance to Israel would be to overthrow Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime."

Not to mention the billions of dollars they get largely for free.

I would say they have a lot more influence than needed. And if we replaced "Israel" with any other nation on Earth, nobody would be whining about antisemitism.

Frankly ADL's complaints smack of the same "all criticism of Israel is evil!" nonsense that Repukes have been spewing

[tritsofme]

16. You're barking up the wrong tree.

I find his comments intolerable.

[RBInMaine]

18. I find the sheer incompetence of Wasserman-Schultz and ALL insiders intolerable.

To say Ellison is anti semitic is extremely wrong and unfair. He is a strong supporter of Israel and has voted so and said so time and again. This is about needing to dramatically transform the DNC. Sanders is Jewish and supports Ellison.

[DeminPennswoods]

19. Regardless

Ellison probably has valid points about the US-Israel relationship. But if he does lead the DNC, these comments will be thrown in his face just about every time he's interviewed. There's noting he can say that will deter many media outlets from hounding him about the comments despite their age. It will distract from everything he wants to accomplish as DNC chair. This isn't what Dems need.

I'm sure there's a role Ellison can play in reversing Dems' fortunes, but being the face of the party probably isn't it right now.