Last week, I called the Florida Democratic Party to request access to the voter file database and software known as VAN that is routinely used by Democratic candidates across the country.
I was told that our campaign would be denied access to this database because I am running against an incumbent Democrat, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. I was also told that any Democratic candidate running against an incumbent Democrat would be denied access — even a lifelong progressive challenging an out-of-touch incumbent.
This is unfair and undemocratic. My opponent already has untold advantages against an insurgent progressive campaign like ours. We are refusing to take corporate money, while she has taken millions of dollars from Wall Street bankers, payday lenders, private prison companies, and other corporate special interests. How much more of an advantage does Wasserman Schultz need to silence the voices of grassroots voters in our district?
– Tim Canova, primary challenger to DNC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Liberty Blitzkrieg readers will be intimately familiar with the shenanigans of Democratic National Committee (DNC) head Debbie Wasserman Schultz. This so-called leader has spent much of the last year rigging the Democratic primary for Hillary Clinton in various ways, which have not gone unnoticed by an increasing number of progressives and liberals. From limited and awkwardly timed debates, to blocking access to voter data and a defense of the undemocratic superdelegate system, the behavior of Wasserman Schultz is mind-boggling in its shadiness.
Indeed, Wasserman Schultz is such a monumental fraud, she’s now facing a serious primary challenger in the person of Tim Canova. I touched on this unexpected battle earlier this year in the post, The DNC is “Feeling the Bern” – Debbie Wasserman Schultz Faces Serious Primary Challenge:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz has not had a great last couple of months. The Florida Congress member and embattled Democratic National Committee Chair has been repeatedly criticized for leading the committee both ineffectively and with a heavy hand, and for an alleged bias toward Hillary Clinton that has made the party’s presidential debates few and far between—one reason why the Republican candidates have dominated the political discussion. The progressive wing of the party base is volubly getting fed up with her.
Now, if the increased calls for her to step down from her post as party head weren’t enough, Wasserman Schultz is also facing the prospect of a tough primary challenge from the left. Liberal economist and longtime Wall Street–reform advocate Tim Canova announced last week that he will challenge Wasserman Schultz in the August 30 primary in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. Touting a platform that closely mirrors Bernie Sanders’s, Canova hopes that the energy Sanders has roused nationally could work to his advantage in the South Florida district. Given Wasserman Schultz’s prominence, the primary could turn into a referendum pitting the progressive wing of the Democratic Party against its establishment wing, in much the way the (successful) primary challenge by another economist, Dave Brat, against then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was a test of strength between the Republicans’ factions.
Over the years, says Canova, Wasserman Schultz has become less accountable to her district and more responsive to Wall Street. “She’s become such a corporate Democrat; she takes so much corporate money,” Canova says. “The way she talks the talk isn’t the way she walks the walk. That kind of unaccountable power needs to be challenged.”
It’s now time for an update, and it should come as no surprise that the master of rigging national primaries is also very good at rigging them closer to home…
As reported by the Broward Palm Beach New Times:
Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz serves as chair of the Democratic National Committee. As such, she’s supposed to support Democratic candidates for office at all levels of government. But in December, she blocked Bernie Sanders’ campaign from accessing the DNC’s voter data files, which contain email addresses and telephone numbers for constituents. Wasserman Schultz was accused of playing favorites and intentionally tanking Sanders’ campaign to give an advantage to Hillary Clinton. Though Sanders sued and got the data he’d sought, critics have since called for Wasserman Schultz’s head.
Now, Tim Canova, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University who is running against Wasserman Schultz for her seat in Congress, found out that he too is blocked from accessing DNC voter data, even though he’s a Democrat. A state party executive told him last Friday that anyone running against an incumbent is not allowed to access that data.
A committee spokesperson, Max Steele, confirmed to New Times via email that the Florida Democratic Party does not offer data access “to candidates challenging incumbent members of Florida’s Democratic congressional delegation. This policy has been applied uniformly across the board since 2010. We stand with our incumbent members of Congress and we’re proud of the job they do representing the people of Florida. The Voter File is proprietary software created and owned by the Democratic National Committee that is maintained and operated by the Florida Democratic Party here in state.”
Canova, who is running to fight political corruption, was incensed. “This is exactly what’s animating my campaign,” he said.
Canova says he was told that if he were an incumbent, he’d appreciate the policy. “I said, ‘I completely understand the need to protect incumbents from Republicans. But from other Democrats in a primary?’ Why would the party take a side in that contest? Democracy should be about having debate and contested elections. The better candidate should win, so to speak.”
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s not much democracy in the Democratic Party.
Canova, who lives in Hollywood, Florida, announced his run for office in January. He has basically usurped Sanders’ platform: Canova claims Wasserman Schultz has been corrupted by corporate donations. He is funding his campaign largely through small donations. If elected, he hopes to reform the nation’s largest banks.
Canova had some additional things to say, which he published in a Medium article titled, This is Unfair and Undemocratic:
Last week, I called the Florida Democratic Party to request access to the voter file database and software known as VAN that is routinely used by Democratic candidates across the country.
I was told that our campaign would be denied access to this database because I am running against an incumbent Democrat, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. I was also told that any Democratic candidate running against an incumbent Democrat would be denied access — even a lifelong progressive challenging an out-of-touch incumbent.
This is unfair and undemocratic. My opponent already has untold advantages against an insurgent progressive campaign like ours. We are refusing to take corporate money, while she has taken millions of dollars from Wall Street bankers, payday lenders, private prison companies, and other corporate special interests. How much more of an advantage does Wasserman Schultz need to silence the voices of grassroots voters in our district?
This is nothing less than an entrenched establishment throwing up roadblocks against our political revolution. We’ve seen my opponent do this against Bernie’s presidential campaign and other progressive challengers. As head of the DNC, Wasserman Schultz has pushed strategies that suppress voter turnout, all to protect incumbents and establishment politicians. She has routinely defended the party’s use of Superdelegates to block the will of Democratic voters in state after state.
All of this has made our party weaker and more vulnerable against Republicans in general elections, which is so painfully obvious with the Democratic Party’s losses in the midterm elections in the past six years — 13 Senate seats and 69 House seats, the biggest loss of congressional Democrats in modern political history.
Bernie Sanders had to go so far as to sue Wasserman Schultz’s DNC in December to regain access to his own party’s voter database. As we continue to compile alternative voter databases from other sources, rest assured that we will not allow the establishment to weaken our campaign. We will overcome any obstacles and we will fight back.
Donate to Tim Canova’s campaign here.
For related articles, see:
The DNC is “Feeling the Bern” – Debbie Wasserman Schultz Faces Serious Primary Challenge
DNC Head Threatens to Kick Michigan Mayor Out of Debate for Cheering Bernie Sanders
The Democratic Party’s Civil War Escalates – DNC Chair Attacks Elizabeth Warren’s Reform Efforts
It’s Not Just the GOP – The Democratic Party is Also Imploding
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
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