POLITIFACT: Allegations of fraud and misconduct at Nevada Democratic convention unfounded

[SFnomad]

http://www.politifact.com/nevada/statements/2016/may/18/jeff-weaver/allegations-fraud-and-misconduct-nevada-democratic/?platform=hootsuite

Supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are furious over the results of Nevada’s state Democratic Party convention in Las Vegas.

Sanders supporters loudly protested both during and after the convention, which saw Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton officially claim a 20-15 delegate advantage over Sanders.

Nevada’s delegate allocation process is complex, but Sanders supporters have accused the state Democratic Party of various crimes including ignoring attempts to change the rules, rigging the process in favor of Clinton and disqualifying several dozen delegates that supported Sanders.

~~~~~~~~~~

Our ruling

Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said Nevada Democratic Party leaders "hijacked the process on the floor" of the state convention "ignoring the regular procedure and ramming through what they wanted to do."

Caucuses and delegate math can be incredibly confusing, and the arcane party structures don’t reflect how most people assume presidential selection works.

But the howls of unfairness and corruption by the Sanders campaign during Nevada’s state Democratic Convention can’t change the simple fact that Clinton’s supporters simply turned out in larger numbers and helped her solidify her delegate lead in Nevada.

There’s no clear evidence the state party "hijacked" the process or ignored "regular procedure."

We rate this claim False.

[wyldwolf]

1. Politiffact is a known corporate thirdway plutocrat organization. LOL

[SFnomad]

3. And it's been abundandtly clear that they're in the tank for Secretary Clinton, right? n/t

[riversedge]

16. ABUNTANDTLY CLEAR!!

[Jarqui]

36. They are largely funded by a partner of the Clinton Foundation

I've linked that more than once before.

PolitiFact, Knight team up to fact-check the 2016 candidates on Medium
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/dec/18/politifact-knight-team-fact-check-2016-candidates-/

Through funding from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and a collaboration with Medium, PolitiFact will be able to fact-check politicians for the first time in the same forum where they make their claims.

Knight Foundation announces $200,000 support to Clinton Global Initiative University meeting to be hosted by President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton in Miami
http://www.knightfoundation.org/press-room/press-release/knight-foundation-announces-200000-support-clinton/

Emails show Clinton Foundation shaped policy
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/1/hillary-clinton-emails-show-foundation-shaped-poli/?page=all

Yet another email showed Mrs. Clinton negotiating how to deliver a speech on Internet freedom at the D.C.-based Newseum, whose chairman also ran the Knight Foundation, which has financial ties to CGI.

“I spoke w Chairman of the Newseum and there will be no cost for S speech on 21st,” said Alec Ross, a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton, referring to the secretary as “S.”

“They’re honored to host. The Chair is the CEO of the Knight Foundation and if the event requires sponsorship for it to be free they will sponsor. Whatever our legal regs are, Newseum and/or Knight will accommodate,” he said.

The Knight Foundation, under CEO Alberto Ibarguen, has been a financial supporter of the Clinton Foundation and CGI, including giving between $100,000 and $250,000 to the foundation.

Newseum spokesman Johnathan Thompson confirmed that the museum provided complimentary space for Mrs. Clinton’s speech.

https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/meetings/cgi-university/2015/agenda/day-2
Christopher Barr, Director of Media Innovation, Knight Foundation

Clinton Foundation donors include dozens of media organizations, individuals
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/05/clinton-foundation-donors-include-dozens-of-media-organizations-individuals-207228

Knight Foundation
Non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting journalism

So the Knight Foundation, dedicated to supporting journalism, donates $250,000 (over time) to the Clinton Foundation ... who have what to do with journalism? Lots if you're trying to buy the White House!

And then they donate even more this way:

https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press-releases/president-clinton-hosts-third-annual-health-matters-conference

Commitments to action established with the Foundation’s Clinton Health Matters Initiative (CHMI) strategic partners will be discussed throughout the day. Key news from CHMI strategic partners at this year’s conference included:
...
An announcement of awards totaling $5 million by the Knight Foundation to winners of their challenge to use digital platforms to take health data and knowledge and bring it to individuals and communities in ways that they can use to improve their own health.

So Politifact's biggest donor, Knight Foundation (by about 10 fold over their second highest donor) also donates millions of dollars to Bill & Hillary's Foundation.

The Knight Foundation, buddies of Bill & Hillary, basically owns Politifact with their whopping donation.
http://www.knightfoundation.org/press-room/press-release/fact-checking-medium-politifact-examine-political-/

With Knight funding, PolitiFact journalists will fact-check and analyze claims made by the 2016 presidential candidates on Medium, and use the platform to showcase findings. PolitiFact will post complete stories on medium.com and politifact.com highlighting what it uncovers, as well as nonpartisan annotations or vetting of a particular claim.

Convince me there is no undeclared major conflict of interest there.

Anyone expecting Sanders to get a fair shake from Politifact under those circumstances is dreaming.

This is just part of the Clinton machinery buying the White House.

[Walk away]

46. Apparently, Bernie Sanders can't get a "fair shake" anywhere. He is the perpetual victim!

He managed to get a lot of attention for stirring up a lot of hatred and anger. Now his chickens are coming home to roost. If he didn't want to play by the rules then why did he choose to shit all over the Democratic party??? Why didn't he run as an independent??

Hillary Clinton won Nevada by 5% then her delegates actually bothered to show up at the convention AND they were registered Democrats. So Bernie failed to steal one delegate.

But that's not the big news. The big news is that Bernie planned to pull this crap at every state convention. And now his plan to steal a few hundred delegates is blown up in is cranky face!!! Meanwhile, Hillary is busy getting things done and watching the Sanders' campaign go haywire.

[Jarqui]

57. He's not going to get a fair shake from Politifact when the Clintons

figuratively own it.

I also don't buy your account. I'm still weighing evidence that contradicts your account.

[Walk away]

58. I'll bet you are!

[Skwmom]

69. Were they the organization that had writers quit?

[Bill USA]

2. AHA! OBVIOUSLY Politifact is (another) TOOL of the ANTI-CHRIST (Hillary Clinton - 4 the 'clueless')

recommended. bookmarked.

[riversedge]

5. Surprised that the first comment did not say it was a Brock tool. It is meme lately

[reformist2]

22. Politifact is VERY political, not AT ALL factual.

[Bill USA]

33. they do lay out their research and explain their reasoning which gives those who question their

conclusion the opportunity to make any specific points of criticism, about their evidence andor methodology. I mean, as opposed to making a blanket rejection of the site's legitimacy entirely.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

66. +1000 nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. It's par for the bernie course, everything/everyone is corrupt except bernie.

[DURHAM D]

6. I can't figure out if BS is lying or he was lied to.

It is important to remember that BS has never attended a state convention, let alone a Nevada convention, so does not have experience is this regard.

[Jitter65]

52. How about both? nt

[procon]

7. Its a massive conspiracy to stop Bernie paid for by... um, anyone not named Bernie.

Its a cult. They can't help themselves.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

59. yes

[iandhr]

8. Facts are so inconvenient.

[Mnpaul]

9. Plenty of problems found by Kern Law offices

They even violated their own charter. They pick it apart line by line.
http://kernlawoffices.com/NSDP/Final%20Draft%20Rules.pdf

[Cheese Sandwich]

10. Well we all saw the voice vote where they adopted the convention rules... and it was a sham, a fraud

if you will.

The video is available online.

So I guess 'Politifact' must be full of shit.

[SFnomad]

11. If you bothered to read the article ... it explains that as well. n/t

[Recursion]

13. The voice vote was how these things work

The chair knew the numbers in attendance and made a ruling.

I think the problem here is most of the Sanders side has never attended a convention and has no idea how they work, and got upset when it isn't what they expect.

[Cheese Sandwich]

34. She could not have known the numbers in advance. That makes no sense.

She knew the numbers of Clinton vs. Sanders delegates in advance maybe, or approximatley.

But that is not the same as the numbers of delegates who would have voted on the motion to suspend the rules, or to adopt the temporary rules.

There undoubtedly would have been crossover votes.

That vote was totally fraudulent.

In fact it is written into the normal convention rules that if the chair is not able to determine based on the the voice vote of yays and nays, then they are supposed to take a head count based on dividing into groups of yays and nays. That clearly wasn't done.

The adopting of the temporary convention rules set the stage for all the rest of the problems because those rules were the basis for disallowing floor motions.

The convention is supposed to be a site of debate and democracy. Not a managed infomercial where the delegates just rubber stamp the decisions of the executive committee.

[Recursion]

38. You have a very naive view of these things

Not a managed infomercial where the delegates just rubber stamp the decisions of the executive committee.

No, that's pretty much exactly what conventions are, and always have been. I realize this is news to some people, but it is what it is. That executive committee was composed of half Clinton and half Sanders supporters, and had a co-chair from each campaign.

[Cheese Sandwich]

42. No. That's not what it's supposed to be. And that's why people were so pissed off.

At the national level it's been like that for a long time.

At the state levels it's been partially both, a mixed picture. But there were people there who had been attending these things for decades, and they stated these procedures were not normal, were very different that how it had been done in past conventions there. They passed rules that basically turned the convention chair into a temporary dictator, disallowed motions from the floor, and the vote they used to pass the new rules was fake as several witnesses said and we all saw on camera. You're completely wrong.

[Mnpaul]

50. The rules were changed to make it solely a voice vote

and Lange was the decider

under Robert's rules(and previous Nevada Dem rules) if the winner can't be determined by voice vote, a show of hands is used and if that fails people stand and remain standing until counted. In addition, they were supposed to wait until people waiting in line to be credentialed are seated before beginning. Normally you would also have a discussion on rule changes before a vote and people would normally be allowed to propose amendments.

It appears that you don't know how these things work.

[PeaceNikki]

19. Um... no.

Let’s talk about this, because some of our VERY RESPECTED BRETHREN who are NOT AT ALL INSANE AND SHITBIRDY are VERY VERY UPSET about the highhandedness and stealing of the rules vote. The way convention rules work is you put together some “temporary rules” — with a committee, in this case half Bernie supporters and half Hillary shills — and then first thing you do is say “Aye, yeah, we’ll use those otherwise LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE AT THE CONVENTION CAN GET DONE.” The rules did not “revert the caucus result to the first tier result.” They did not do anything except say “no you may not use megaphones in this hotel ballroom,” and “yeah we can definitely throw you out if you are a giant aggressive fascist screaming down everything and everyone.” (These were the temporary rules that most angered the Bernie supporters in attendance.) And yet they didn’t even throw out all the people, even though they could have under the rules! What super lame dictators.

No, VERY ANGRY FOLK making your videos, the rules were not “changed” and did not require a two-thirds vote. They required a majority. Hillary Clinton had a narrow majority of supporters attending because almost 500 Bernie Sanders delegates didn’t show up. Even if the olds and gyno-Americans in the room weren’t as loud as the young men in their 20s and 30s, and even if they didn’t take an hour to do a head count to verify the voice vote, nothing was stolen here.


Read more at http://wonkette.com/601971/nice-grandpa-bernie-sanders-gonna-burn-your-sht-dowwwwwn#Dxw11FSOZRqrQIE5.99

[Surya Gayatri]

23. Of course they are...RW corporatist shills and full of shit, too.

Say it loud, Cheese Whiz.

[riversedge]

27. Like a camera pic--it was only a moment in time. Not the whole process.

[TwilightZone]

39. Or you just don't know how the process works.

[Cheese Sandwich]

45. I don't need to know how it works because I'm not from Nevada.

Other people who have been attending these things for decades have said what happened was very strange and in fact fraudulent. The whole thing turned on that first voice vote to suspend the normal rules, or adopt temporary rules. And it was fake. There's video and witnesses. What other proof would you need.

[mcar]

12. Corporatist, oligarchy shills

[Surya Gayatri]

14. Well, there's a whole Berner narrative shot down.

for the truth.

[riversedge]

20. Susposedly it is the reason for their anger. BLUMP!

[Surya Gayatri]

29. Their self-styled victimhood is really tedious and SO depressingly predictable.

[Grassy Knoll]

15. Kick n Rec.

Good.

[passiveporcupine]

17. Wow a 3-in-1 yellow button wipeout.

plonk
plonk
plonk

OK, one more
Plonk

[workinclasszero]

18. Rated: FALSE!

[hrmjustin]

21. Thank you for posting this.

[YouDig]

24. It's great that the falsehood of Bernie's claims is getting more and more coverage.

It won't change the mind of any of those who believe everything is a conspiracy, but the rest of the country is waking up to what is going on with Bernie.

[KingFlorez]

25. A delegate grab was attempted and failed

When all was said and done, no one lost or received any delegates that they did not earn in February.

[1StrongBlackMan]

26. posted to for later.

[itsrobert]

28. Wrong. The fraud was on the Bernie supporters who weren't registered and possibly not

even Nevada residents.

[kiva]

30. So because the state party

didn't reserve the room for long enough - their own inefficiency meant that we were running four hours behind by mid-afternoon - it was OK for Lange to ignore the call for a recount despite the fact that an exact motion was called for and voted on in the county caucus? Yeah, didn't think so.

[ucrdem]

31. So Elvira didn't swoop down and "flip" 64 innocent angels' registrations?

Gee who could have predicted THAT!?

[CrowCityDem]

32. This whole flap is over the way the party determined there were more Hillary delegates. Ridiculous.

[davidlynch]

35. "There's no evidence the state party "hijacked"...

There is great incontrovertible evidence, watch the Youtube video of Roberta Lange ignoring the voice votes, ignoring demands for headcounts and so on, all in defiance of the rules.

[TwilightZone]

37. Well, there goes Politifact under the bus....

One would think they'd be out of room by now.

[Baobab]

40. Who/Where are the 48 voters whose votes were disqualified?

Who are they- where is their story?

Are they regular Dems who were disqualifed because of some trick, like having their registrations switched, or are they people nobody knows?

Were any of Hillary's delegates disqualified?

Without some data on that its hard to figure out who was in the right.

If they were regular Dems whose registrations were changed without their knowledge then its a bad situation.

[Recursion]

43. If you mean the 58, they didn't show up to begin with

Of the sixty-four, eight showed up, six of them provided the correct documentation and were seated, two did not and were not.

[TwilightZone]

63. Plus, more than 400 more who didn't show up, but nobody wants to talk about those.

[SFnomad]

64. Yes, there were delegates for Secretary Clinton that were disqualified as well n/t

[Bobbie Jo]

41. Kick this

[kstewart33]

44. Corporate! Corporate! Corporate!

When in doubt, just repeat this mantra, and all challenges to Bernie are pfffft! Erased.

[Recursion]

51. You forgot to capitalize the word CORPORATE

That makes all the difference

[PeaceNikki]

53. BINGO!!

[kstewart33]

68. That is priceless.

And a nice summation of Bernie's campaign. Very cool!

[UtahLib]

47. K&R. nt

[eastwestdem]

48. Yeah, not a surprise. I'm guessing the Sandroids will still find a reason to be mad. nt

[Agnosticsherbet]

49. Sanders Campaign tried to steal the delegates.

Not surprised.

[bigtree]

54. inconvenient facts

[Sheepshank]

55. Well of course it's unfounded.

BS supporters are so chocked full of victimhood, and the on going rhetoric of a rigged and unfair system, they are predisposed to seeing conspiracies at every turn when their entitled little persons don't get their way.

They've done this all campaign season long.

[WhiteTara]

56. Raise the bus here comes Politifact!

[gordianot]

60. It would be interesting to see Rachel Maddows spin on this Politifact pronouncement.

Back in the day she would go off on Politifact decisions it would be interesting to see if her narrative has changed for convenience now that she is the new Maddow.

[bigtree]

61. kick

[tandem5]

62. The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round... [crunching bumping sounds]... 'round and 'round

[Number23]

65. I speak for the universe when I say that we are shocked that this latest excuse to justify the

cringe-inducing and unhinged behavior of a group of lunatics that has been going on for almost an ENTIRE YEAR now is a gigantic crock of crap.

Shocked.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

67. K&R nt

[mmonk]

70. As a former delegate who is familiar with Robert's Rules, I'd say Pollitifact is false

[Skwmom]

71. Based on knowledgable people that where there I'd say Politifact should rate itself false

[Vinca]

73. Exactly.

People who were there and are definitely not crackpots have said the direct opposite.

[betsuni]

72. K&R