Has anyone here seen the letter from Gary Mauro?

[cosmik debris]

Apparently he is stirring up shit about Obama stealing the caucuses.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5095734&mesg_id=5095734

I'd like some confirmation from someone I trust before I get too excited about this.

[Igel]

1. Confirmation about what?

That there were irregularities?

Sure, there were irregularities at my precinct. Nobody had a clue, and with the large turnout somebody really needed a clue. I don't blame either side for the irregularities; I blame the Party organizers.

However, I will say that my precinct was run in a crappy manner. That nobody checked to see if the people there were eligible for voting there, to save time we were told that it didn't matter--sign'em all up, let the Party do the elibility check against their database.. The HRC caucus left before the BO caucus had their delegates selected, and there was no final vote on delegates by the caucus as a whole, and just told to submit the names/info for delegates on a piece of notebook paper, it would all be transferred to the correct form later (sometime later when I left the notebook paper was still the only record). We were told it didn't matter if you checked the box indicating you wanted to be considered as a possible delegate.

The minimum they should do is verify that those who signed in and voted were eligible to do so. A royal pain in the neck--I'd be happy to volunteer a weekday to help out--but it would save a lot of time later on, and possible lawsuits. The Party may be able to set its rules, but it should have some responsibility for actually abiding by the rules it's set.

[cosmik debris]

3. I had no doubt that there were some irregularities.

I was uncertain if the letter was real, if Gary Mauro was really responsibility for it, and if there was any prospect of it leading somewhere.

It is worth noting that many of the irregularities were caused by the Clinton supporters not the Obama supporters. Since both sides have had problems and made accusations this could lead to some serious legal battles.

[gkhouston]

11. at my precinct convention, they did check voter cards and photo IDs.

Took over an hour to get everyone signed in but folks were good-natured about it.

[crispini]

2. FYI, it looks more real than not

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/03/clinton-delay-the-delegate-cou.html

[cosmik debris]

4. Thanx

This is gonna get nasty.

[sonias]

5. A pox on the campaign that sues the TDP

I'm going to echo the sentiment that was clearly stated on Burnt Orange from the first hint that the Clinton campaign was prepared to pre-sue. They have been working this idea for months now, knowing they would do poorly in the caucus system. A pox of them for not being better prepared and a pox on them for suing the TDP just when Texas is welcoming so many new thousands of people into the party.

But I'm not in the least surprised that Garry Mauro and the old guard are up to their old tricks.

AAS 3/15/08
Clinton campaign wants Texas to postpone party conventions

DALLAS — As final results from the Texas Democratic caucus remain unknown, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign wants signatures from the March 4 contest verified before party conventions are held around the state later this month.

In a letter sent to the state Democratic Party late Friday, the Clinton campaign requests the March 29 count and state Senate district conventions be postponed until the eligibility of an estimated 1 million caucus-goers are double checked.

The Clinton campaign wrote they received more than 2,000 complaints of violations following the historic Texas turnout, which was perhaps the nation's largest caucus ever.

With about 41 percent of precinct caucuses reported, rival Barack Obama was ahead with 56 percent to Clinton's 44 percent.

Hillary Clinton can kiss my ass if she sues to get the conventions postponed! :grr:


Sonia

[sonias]

6. Glen Maxey (expert) weighs in

BOR thread
If there were violations to the rules
then there are processes in place (Credentials committees at every County and Senate District covention) to take the complaints.

We all know that our precinct conventions were a daunting task to get signed in and establish the roll. I have only heard of a few instances where people believed that ineligible voters participated, and in all these cases the appropriate remedies are being used: filing the appropriate appeals with the Credentials Committee.

As to the Clinton campaign's request for a delay, I'm sure that both of these great lawyers know that the date of these conventions is not left for the State Party to willy nilly move. It's in the Texas statutes and I don't think the Texas Democratic Party should be in the business of ignoring the law (let's leave that to the Republicans, since they have a long history of it).

Moreover, we have over a million names on sign-in forms across Texas. The Delegate Selection Plan and Rules of the Party anticipate that the people who were to make these determinations were those in charge of the local precinct conventions: both Clinton and Obama leaders. I hope they aren't claiming that one camp or the other systematically violated the law or rules. Human error occurred, to be sure. Remedies are in place. I'd suggest that the Clinton campaign use the remedies at hand before carpet bombing the Party and its Rules.

:applause: Bravo Glen - the voice of reason!


Sonia

[crispini]

7. EXCELLENT comment from BOR thread

To reassure you that I am not attempting to put words into anyone's mouth, here is my line of reasoning, which I hope is at least plausible:

1. The caucus process in Texas is largely unfamiliar to the vast majority of voters.

2. In a year of unprecedented participation, this lack of familiarity resulted in confusion and occasional errors by party officials and supporters of both sides.

3. In the absence of remarkable or abnormal circumstances, the incidence of confusion and errors should be statistically similar across the board, particularly given the one million plus voters and thousands of precincts in the sample size.

more...
http://www.burntorangereport.com/showComment.do?commentId=34897

The entire thread is here:
http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5380

[WolverineDG]

8. Okay, so if Her Majesty stops the county conventions on 3/29

how pray tell are we to figure out who goes to the state convention?

dg

[thevoiceofreason]

9. I pity the candidate that has Garry Featherweight Mauro carrying their legal water

Guy has no clue. The county/senatorial district credentials committees are set up to handle this.

[WolverineDG]

10. Here's what's funny

all these folks down in my neck of the woods who are on Hillary's (& by extension Garry's as well) side are the very bastards who told their machines to vote for Bush instead of Mauro!

:rofl:

dg

[thevoiceofreason]

12. Karma is a bitch.

[TexasThoughtCriminal]

13. I'm now officially embarrassed about my signature banner.

[Stop Cornyn]

14. Gary Mauro is a really decent guy, but he has never shown good political judgment. This gross error

is just the latest in a long line of political mistakes which are the result of Gary's often poor judgment.

He's not a bad guy.

If Gary is passing along misinformation, it is no doubt because someone fed him this misinformation and he was politically gullible enough to believe it.

Let's correct Gary's error and clarify the issue without vilifying Gary, who's done far more good than bad in his political career.

[sonias]

15. The TDP responds

Phillip Martin just posted this on BOR:

The Texas Democratic Party and local Democratic Party organizations around our state are working to turn the enormous opportunity created by the record Democratic turnout experienced on March 4th into a positive outcome for Texas Democrats this fall and in 2010. We are proud of both our Presidential candidates who helped create that turnout. We ask now that the campaigns work with us rather than become an impediment to this extraordinary opportunity to build our party.

On March 4th, our Democratic precinct conventions experienced record turnout of roughly one million precinct convention attendees, a ten-fold increase from the previous high attendance mark. As expected in any record turnout involving hundreds of thousands of people, there were reports of problems caused by long lines and crowded facilities. These problems are not unique to Texas. Similar problems, in proportionately similar numbers, occurred in pure caucus states like Iowa and Nevada.

The overwhelming majority of problems reported in Texas do not affect the legitimacy of delegate allocation. It is important to remember that the precinct conventions are just the first of three steps where delegates and alternates are selected. "Final results" will not be determined until June 6-7 at the Texas Democratic State convention. And at each convention step, Texas Democratic Party rules provide a credentials process to address problems and provide an avenue to register complaints and make formal challenges

For that reason, the Texas Democratic Party will not do as suggested by one campaign and circumvent Party rules to set up an unnecessary, ad hoc "verification" process that could effectively disqualify delegates selected at their precinct conventions after the fact. The Party has never stated any intention to set up a verification process of this nature because Party rules already provide for "verification" through our credentials process. Candidates who wish to disqualify delegates must pursue formal challenges based on evidence filed appropriately in accordance with our party's rules.

The Texas Democratic Party plans to conduct our district and county conventions on March 29 and our June State Convention in accordance with procedures set forth in Texas law and party rules. Both campaigns have the opportunity and responsibility to do their jobs by documenting evidence, filing challenges if warranted, and turning out their delegates in a system that rewards such an effort when final delegate results are determined at the State Convention in June.

Well I hope that settles it. Yeah right. :shrug:

But who thinks this will do for the Clinton campaign?

Sonia

[Gothmog]

16. My Precinct Convention was not perfect but we got it done

I got to my precinct convention after polls closed (I had been poll watching/voter protection) at another precinct for the Obama campaign. The process was a little disorganized at first but I ended up getting elected as chairman and got the convention running on track. Everyone had a chance to sign in and I made sure that the entire convention ratified and approved the entire slate of delegates and alternatives.

Was the process perfect? No but it was not unfair. Each side's votes were counted and the delegates were allocated based on these votes.

I am proud of the Texas Democratic Party for standing up to the Clinton campaign. I will be at the next level where we expect 1500 people (there were 40 or so four years ago). This level of participation is great for the party as a whole.

[sonias]

17. I'm proud of us too

I hope that both campaigns appreciate that it takes a lot of work for the PCT level conventions. We would applaud all the volunteers and Democratic voters that turned out to participate.

Good job, folks!


:applause:

Sonia