Inside Hillary Clinton’s Secret Takeover of the DNC

[DKW 86 7,410]

 

 

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https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774

Individuals who had maxed out their $2,700 contribution limit to the campaign could write an additional check for $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund—that figure represented $10,000 to each of the thirty-two states’ parties who were part of the Victory Fund agreement—$320,000—and $33,400 to the DNC. The money would be deposited in the states first, and transferred to the DNC shortly after that. Money in the battleground states usually stayed in that state, but all the other states funneled that money directly to the DNC, which quickly transferred the money to Brooklyn.

“Wait,” I said. “That victory fund was supposed to be for whoever was the nominee, and the state party races. You’re telling me that Hillary has been controlling it since before she got the nomination?”

Gary said the campaign had to do it or the party would collapse.

“That was the deal that Robby struck with Debbie,” he explained, referring to campaign manager Robby Mook. “It was to sustain the DNC. We sent the party nearly $20 million from September until the convention, and more to prepare for the election.”

“What’s the burn rate, Gary?” I asked. “How much money do we need every month to fund the party?”

The burn rate was $3.5 million to $4 million a month, he said.

I gasped. I had a pretty good sense of the DNC’s operations after having served as interim chair five years earlier. Back then the monthly expenses were half that. What had happened? The party chair usually shrinks the staff between presidential election campaigns, but Debbie had chosen not to do that. She had stuck lots of consultants on the DNC payroll, and Obama’s consultants were being financed by the DNC, too.

When we hung up, I was livid. Not at Gary, but at this mess I had inherited. I knew that Debbie had outsourced a lot of the management of the party and had not been the greatest at fundraising. I would not be that kind of chair, even if I was only an interim chair. Did they think I would just be a surrogate for them, get on the road and rouse up the crowds? I was going to manage this party the best I could and try to make it better, even if Brooklyn did not like this. It would be weeks before I would fully understand the financial shenanigans that were keeping the party on life support.

Right around the time of the convention the leaked emails revealed Hillary’s campaign was grabbing money from the state parties for its own purposes, leaving the states with very little to support down-ballot races. A Politico story published on May 2, 2016, described the big fund-raising vehicle she had launched through the states the summer before, quoting a vow she had made to rebuild “the party from the ground up … when our state parties are strong, we win. That’s what will happen.”

Yet the states kept less than half of 1 percent of the $82 million they had amassed from the extravagant fund-raisers Hillary’s campaign was holding, just as Gary had described to me when he and I talked in August. When the Politico story described this arrangement as “essentially … money laundering” for the Clinton campaign, Hillary’s people were outraged at being accused of doing something shady. Bernie’s people were angry for their own reasons, saying this was part of a calculated strategy to throw the nomination to Hillary.

I wanted to believe Hillary, who made campaign finance reform part of her platform, but I had made this pledge to Bernie and did not want to disappoint him. I kept asking the party lawyers and the DNC staff to show me the agreements that the party had made for sharing the money they raised, but there was a lot of shuffling of feet and looking the other way.

When I got back from a vacation in Martha’s Vineyard I at last found the document that described it all: the Joint Fund-Raising Agreement between the DNC, the Hillary Victory Fund, and Hillary for America.

The agreement—signed by Amy Dacey, the former CEO of the DNC, and Robby Mook with a copy to Marc Elias—specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.

I had been wondering why it was that I couldn’t write a press release without passing it by Brooklyn. Well, here was the answer.

 

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[homersapien 11,352]

This is a systemic problem, not a Hillary problem.

[WDavE 332]

Its never a Hillary problem going all the way back to her being the First Lady of Arkansas... That's the funny part.

[homersapien 11,352]

20 minutes ago, WDavE said:

Its never a Hillary problem going all the way back to her being the First Lady of Arkansas... That's the funny part.

You completely misunderstood my response.

I didn't say Hillary was not guilty of abusing the system, I am saying that Hillary didn't create that system.   Get rid of Hillary and the problem remains.

[DKW 86 7,410]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

This is a systemic problem, not a Hillary problem.

 

My friends and I at Justice Democrats completely disagree.

[homersapien 11,352]

12 minutes ago, DKW 86 said:

My friends and I at Justice Democrats completely disagree.

What I said may not be the angle you want to emphasize on this story, but it is not certainly not BS.

The problem with money in our political system goes way beyond Hillary Clinton.  I am not defending Hillary.  I am just stating an underlying truth that is not BS. 

You should know better.

[DKW 86 7,410]

Money is A PROBLEM.

Choosing to sell out whole hog to doing bad things is most definitely a Hillary Problem.

Stealing funds from the Victory Fund is beyond the pale. Tom Perez is doing the same thing again even today.

HRC 2020...It wont be a fair fight for the nomination. 

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

2 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Money is A PROBLEM.

Choosing to sell out whole hog to doing bad things is most definitely a Hillary Problem.

Stealing funds from the Victory Fund is beyond the pale. Tom Perez is doing the same thing again even today.

HRC 2020...It wont be a fair fight for the nomination. 

I heard one political pundit say today that this would finish the Clintons for good. Sure hope he is right. Her legacy will deservedly be as Crooked Hillary.

[aujeff11 6,243]

5 hours ago, homersapien said:

I am not defending Hillary.

Yes you are. You’re clearly defending a woman that lied about the purpose of the donations, and you’re defending a woman that claimed that Campaign Finance Reform would be one of her top priorities as President. Pretty sure if you rail against it, you cannot use it as as excuse after your hands are already caught in the cookie jar. The established oligarchy would’ve continued unchallenged with Hillary as President, and only insignificant campaign reform would’ve been had considering she was already in bed with most of the special interests and top donors. Instead of championing transparency, she was setting the bar of corruption at new heights. She was literally the worst, most corrupt nominee to ever try and run under a Campaign Finance Reform promise. The political system didn’t ask her to accept the money from large top donors, or to put the rest of her Democratic opponents at a serious competitive disadvantage. Spare us from the she was righteous in a world of corruption narrative. She prospered and received private gain from the “system,” and that’s where her defense has to stop.

[WDavE 332]

My dream is that one day we appoint a Special Council to investigate Democrats and when doing so . That we also put no restrictions on what they are looking for.  Let's name it something that by itself isn't a federal crime to begin with. Let's give them broad powers and absolutely no governing body to answer too.

 

I also hope that the whole legal team is made up with Republican donors and the lead council be registered Conservative Republican. To make it all equal, I suggest that it be someone who had to testify to Meullar and his team but never charged. That would cover the non-recluse issue.

[WDavE 332]

Perhaps my favorite Hillary lie is tied to my former military service. I had a Top secret Clearance and worked in Crypto.

 

She didn't know that the C on documents meant classified even though she was briefed on handling classified documents and even narrated a training film on the subject.

 

But let me repeat myself. It's never her..........

 

 

[Auburn85 432]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/02/politics/elizabeth-warren-dnc-rigged/index.html

 

 

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Asked if DNC system was rigged in Clinton's favor, Warren says 'yes'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she believes that the Democratic National Committee was "rigged" in favor of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 primary.

Asked Thursday by CNN's Jake Tapper whether she believes that the Democratic campaign organization was tipped in favor of Clinton over her primary opponent, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Warren responded without hesitation: "Yes."

 

 

more at the link

[Auburn85 432]

from March 2016

 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bernie-sanders-fundraise-down-ballot-democrats-maddow

 

 

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wouldn’t say if he will turn his fundraising juggernaut toward the Democratic House and Senate campaign committees and down-ballot Democratic candidates in a Wednesday night interview on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

 

“Right now, our job is to, what I’m trying to do is win the Democratic nomination,” Sanders said.

He said he is “blown away” by his campaign’s small-dollar fundraising.

“Without that type of support, we would not be where we are right now,” he said.

Host Rachel Maddow said rival Hillary Clinton has been fundraising for her campaign as well as the Democratic Party. Will the Sanders campaign begin this type of fundraising as well, Maddow asked.

“We’ll see,” Sanders said. “Right now, our focus is on winning the nomination.”

 

 

As it turns out, even though very little money was actually going to the states of down ballot races, the Clinton campaign managed to successfully get the spotlight  on Bernie's lack of helping down ballot races. 

[DKW 86 7,410]

7 minutes ago, Auburn85 said:

from March 2016

 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bernie-sanders-fundraise-down-ballot-democrats-maddow

 

 

As it turns out, even though very little money was actually going to the states of down ballot races, the Clinton campaign managed to successfully get the spotlight  on Bernie's lack of helping down ballot races. 

Isnt that almost the standard go to with the Clintons? Accuse your enemies of the crimes you do?

The Victory Fund was crazy. This money was raised for whoever won the nomination and for down-ballot campaigns. Instead, it was almost all taken for HRC's losing campaign. MY FEAR: The Clintons are stacking the deck even more decidedly in HRC's favor than last time. Just look at Perez's appointments so far...

[homersapien 11,352]

The suggestion Hillary might run again is preposterous.   She lost to Donald Trump for crissakes!  

[Auburn85 432]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donna-brazile-sells-out-a-sad-way-to-end-a-career_us_59fc8517e4b09887ad6f3f6e

 

 

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Donna Brazile Sells Out, A Sad Way To End A Career

Peter Rosenstein

non-profit consultant, public speaker and political analyst

Only a few weeks ago I signed a petition to keep Donna Brazile on the Democratic National Committee (DNC). I defended her as a good Democrat who worked hard over the years to elect Democrats. What a difference a few weeks make.

Today I am sorry for signing that petition. She has not only bought into the Bernie Sanders campaign story for profit, selling her book, but has hurt the Democratic Party she claimed to love when she spent years as vice-chair of it.

Brazile is too smart not to know releasing her book now wasn’t going to be used by Republicans to block out everything wrong they are doing from tax cuts for the rich to covering up the disgusting behavior of Trump and his campaign. She knew she was going to set Democrat against Democrat once again and for that many will never forgive her.

What is amazing to me is in trying to trash Hillary Clinton for saving the Democratic National Committee she actually throws President Obama under the bus. He was president and controlled the party operations after 2012. He left it millions in debt and owing money to banks. He left Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) in charge knowing she was a disaster, just look at the mid-term elections. He could have changed the leadership of the Party at any time but didn’t want to bother. As early as 2008 he started Obama for America as the way to go around the Party. Now all that is known but did Brazile have to throw him under the bus for it now when he is finally working in tandem with Eric Holder his former Attorney General to raise money to rebuild state parties and win legislative seats for Democrats fighting gerrymandering.

Let’s start with facts. The DNC, which Brazile claims rigged the primary for Clinton, was the organization saying to states it was OK for Sanders to run in their primaries even though he was not a Democrat. Sanders himself said were he not allowed into the Democratic Primary he couldn’t have run. “He was deemed “extremely disgraceful” by Donna Brazile, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, when he said “In terms of media coverage, you had to run within the Democratic Party,” he observed, adding that he couldn’t raise money outside the major two-party process. The DNC shared its voter lists with him and he knew that was the only way to get them he could afford. In the middle of the primary he fired some staff for stealing Hillary’s voter information from the DNC. Both campaigns signed agreements with the DNC to raise money. They both had the right to set conditions in those agreements with how the money they raised would be spent especially considering how the DNC was broke and had a record of squandering its money under Wasserman Schultz. Sanders really didn’t care about that as clearly he never had any intention of raising a nickel for the party. One fact that people need to remember is Clinton won the primary by nearly 4 million votes. There was no way to rig that. Sanders’s goal was always to tear down the party and that is obviously still his goal if you listen to the leadership of Our Revolution, the group he started after the campaign.

So what does Brazile accomplish by having Politico release a snippet from her book? Maybe she hopes Sanders supporters will run out to buy it? Maybe she hopes Republicans who hate Hillary and Obama will buy it? Maybe she hopes to get hired now that she has trashed the DNC, Obama and Clinton. Whatever it is she has effectively ended her career as a Democrat.

Over the years I have crossed paths with Donna Brazile many times at Democratic events. We were never friends but acquaintances and she would occasionally comment on columns I wrote or comments I made in the press. I don’t expect to hear from her after this column.

What she has done as we move toward the 2018 elections for Congress, governors and state legislatures is try to reignite the fire between the Clinton and Sanders wings of the Democrat Party and re-litigate the 2016 election hurting the Democratic Party which is just beginning to recover. I see that as a career-ending move, even if she makes a few shekels from her book.

Democrats have a real chance to move forward beginning with wins next Tuesday in New Jersey and Virginia. We have a slew of great candidates who announced they are running for Congress next year and great candidates running in the 36 state governor’s races, as well as for state legislature. While the DNC is still struggling to raise money, individual Democratic candidates are doing well, as are the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). The DNC has hired Jess O’Connell as CEO and she comes with a strong record of accomplishment from EMILY’s List. So despite Brazile’s nasty and from the excerpts I have seen half-truths, Democrats will prevail. The Democratic Party and our candidates will stand up to Trump, McConnell, Ryan and Steve Bannon and the hate they spew. Grassroots Democrats will be working hard to ensure decency, equality and telling the truth will once again prevail in the government of the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Auburn85 432]

 

[aujeff11 6,243]

8 minutes ago, Auburn85 said:

 

Elizabeth Warren didn’t? Or is “no one” restricted to two or three people again? 

[Auburn85 432]

Hillary Rosen gives it the ole try in defending Hillary Clinton

 

 

[DKW 86 7,410]

It is amazing watching the friends of HRC defend anything and everything. 

NV Democrats dont remember it the same way...

 

[Auburn85 432]

 

[Auburn85 432]

https://www.mediaite.com/online/hillary-for-america-denounces-donna-braziles-claims-against-clinton-its-troubling-and-puzzling/

 

 

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Hillary For America Denounces Donna Brazile’s Claims Against Clinton: ‘It’s Troubling and Puzzling’

Amidst Donna Brazile’s accusations that the Democratic primary was “rigged” for Hillary Clinton, Hillary For America released an open letter denying the former DNC chair’s claims.

The statement, which was penned by Jesse Ferguson and signed by Huma Abedin, Robby Mook, John Podesta, and over 100 others, condemned Brazile’s “troubling” comments:

“We were shocked to learn the news that Donna Brazile actively considered overturning the will of the Democratic voters by attempting to replace Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine as the Democratic Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees. It is particularly troubling and puzzling that she would seemingly buy into false Russian-fueled propaganda, spread by both the Russians and our opponent, about our candidate’s health… We do not recognize the campaign she portrays in the book.”

The signatories went onto say they are “very proud” of their team and the campaign Clinton ran. “We have now, as we did throughout the campaign, enormous love and pride for our candidate, Hillary Clinton,” they added.

The letter condemning Brazile’s comments against Clinton ended with a call for Democratic unity. “All Democrats should be doing everything they can — canvassing, phone banking, etc. — to help our candidates for Governor of Virginia and New Jersey and the other races around the country next Tuesday,” said the former HFA staff.

Their response to Brazile comes just after the former DNC chair asserted she “found proof” Clinton “rigged” the Democratic primary against Bernie Sanders by working behind the scenes to solve the party’s massive debt problem. Additionally, Brazile has come out with several highly questionable claims, including the propagation of the wild Seth Rich murder conspiracy as she suggester her own life was in danger. She also considered replacing Clinton with Joe Bidendue to the “rigged” primary, or so she says.

Of course, Brazile isn’t exactly clean herself, as she was caught leaking CNN debate and town hall questions to Clinton throughout the election to give the Democrat nominee an unfair advantage over her opponents.

 

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