Nurses Blast DNC Attack on Sanders Campaign
Warn of Long-Term Consequences for Next November

National Nurses United today condemned what it called “the latest blatant effort by the Democratic National Committee to rig the primary process” in its decision to bar the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders access to a critical master list of Democratic voters.

Nurses will join a protest later today outside the Florida district office of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz that is expected to occur at 4:30 p.m. ET at 10100 Pines Blvd., in Pembroke Pines, Fl.

The decision by the DNC, said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro, “continues an anti-democratic pattern by the DNC to derail the growing grassroots momentum of the Sanders campaign and the millions of Americans who support it.”

“What the DNC should clearly understand is they are playing a very dangerous game. Their cynical effort to stack this process could well turn off millions of voters who they will need to win an election next November,” DeMoro said.

Further, considering the breach that was the pretext for the DNC attack on the Sanders campaign was the mistakes of a vendor, and the Sanders campaign responded by self-reporting the breach and firing a staff member, “the DNC has sent an appalling message encouraging cover up and silence rather than transparency and self reporting.”

“The DNC should immediately reverse this blatantly partisan decision. We need a fair election, not a coronation,” DeMoro said.
 
Earlier this week, DeMoro authored a commentary in Huffington Post in which she warned of “people and institutions are working feverishly to convince us that real social change is not possible.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rose-ann-demoro/dont-let-them-gaslight-th_b_8808480.html
 
No matter what, DeMoro added today, “they will not stop the mobilization of Sanders’ supporters and the aspirations of millions for a fundamental break with Wall Street and the corporate interests who have for far too long dominated our political and economic system,” DeMoro continued.

Most immediately, NNU members will be out in the streets of Manchester, N.H. Saturday morning and participating in a rally later Saturday in advance of a Democratic Presidential debate scheduled for Saturday night (details below).

“The DNC decision to hold a debate on the Saturday night before Christmas, at a time when they know far fewer people will be watching is one of multiple indications that the DNC is determined to hold stack the deck for their preferred candidate and will do whatever they can to engineer the electoral process on her behalf,” DeMoro said.

Signs include:

• Limiting the number of debates, and scheduling the two most recent debates on Saturday nights to restrict the viewership – in sharp contrast to the Republican Party, which has held far more debates, and on weeknights to encourage viewership.  As the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent wrote today, “it’s true that the Clinton camp did lobby the DNC early on for a lower-exposure debate schedule.”
• Pressuring Democratic elected officials and other super delegates to line up behind Clinton with early endorsements.
• The decision to block Sanders campaign from use of a master voter file list in an obvious attempt to weaken its ability to reach Democratic voters just a few weeks before voting begins in the early primary and caucus states.
• The timing on today’s DNC announcement, coming just hours after the reporting of two major new endorsements for Sanders, by the Communications Workers of America and Democracy for America, a major group of grassroots activists, as well as reporting that the Sanders campaign had recorded more than 2 million individual contributions.

DeMoro also noted the decision of the DNC, quietly reported earlier this year, to reopen its national convention to corporate sponsors, “part of an overall recognition of its long-term allegiance, like their Republican counterparts, to Wall Street and corporate America, ties that are threatened by the Sanders campaign and his big army of supporters.”

Details on Saturday’s NNU canvassing and rally in Manchester:

Morning Canvas – Nurses convene at 9:15 a.m., door to door campaigning to begin at 10 a.m., from Courtyard Marriott Manchester-Boston Regional Airport Hotel, 700 Huse Road, Manchester, Merrimack and Amoskeag Conference Room.

Evening Rally – 6 p.m., Saint Anselm College, Main Lawn. (The debate follows at 8 p.m. EST at the college).