According to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, the Democratic National Committee vetoed his nomination of a labor leader to serve as one of his representatives on the party platform committee, with Sanders being told not to pick anyone else from the labor movement.
When the Democratic National Committee announced that Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont would get to pick five of the 15 people who’ll write the party platform, it was seen as a small coup. But at a news conference today, Sanders revealed that the DNC had actually vetoed his nomination of a key labor ally, and said he was told not to pick anyone else from the labor movement.
“What we heard from the DNC was that they did not want representatives of labor unions on the platform-drafting committee,” he said. “That’s correct.”
Yesterday, Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Nicholas was the first to report that Sanders had included RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, on his list of preferred platform committee members. “He told me that he really wanted me on the committee to advocate for Medicare for All, especially,” DeMoro told The Washington Post today.
According to Sanders and DeMoro, the DNC nixed her, resulting in a Sanders delegation of four men, one woman (Native American activist Deborah Parker), and no one from organized labor.
According to the report, just one of the fifteen people serving on the party’s platform committee is a representative of organized labor, leaving me to agree with John Nichols.
The D Party was at its strongest when it was closely linked to organized labor. Ds need to listen more to unions.https://t.co/LG8FUbvmkK
— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) June 6, 2016
It makes me wonder when unions will stop giving token endorsements to certain Democrats by default. When does the principle of “What have you done for me lately?”, come into play?
Zach, thanks.
SSDD