A number of party leaders are frustrated that Hogg, who has a leadership position in the party, is pushing primaries against some incumbents in deep-blue seats.
Democratic party leaders Thursday morning admonished officers to not take sides in primaries, addressing a situation involving activist and Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg.
“Let me be unequivocal. No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election, whether on behalf of an incumbent or a challenger,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a press call. “Voters should decide who our primary nominees are, not DNC leadership. Our role is to serve as stewards of a fair, open and trusted process, not to tilt the scales.”’
As of now, however, the DNC does not have the power to remove Hogg if he refuses to stand down on funding primary challenges through a separate PAC — unless the body changes its rules, a senior DNC official told NBC News.
“Under the present bylaws, there is no action that can be taken against David Hogg without changing to the bylaws to extend that policy of neutrality to all primaries," DNC Finance Chair Chris Korge told NBC News. "There is no codified, legal way to remove an officer for doing what David Hogg has done because it only extends to the presidential race. "
Korge said that, as of now, the situation is to be addressed at a future meeting, likely in August.
Korge said he believed it was imperative for the body to formally change its bylaws because the party division the Hogg situation has caused harkens to an old ghost Democrats don’t want to revisit.
“It smells like 2016, when progressives said the DNC had it in the bag for Hillary Clinton," Korge said, referencing angst in the party that the DNC had its thumb on the scale to block Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., from the presidential nomination. “No party official, no officer of the DNC, should do anything that would result in the division that was created by the perception that existed back in 2016.”
On Thursday, Martin went on to say he had spoken to Hogg about what he perceived as a conflict but he did not expound on whether he gave him an ultimatum.
“I understand what he’s trying to do,” Martin continued in the press call. “As I’ve said to him, ‘If you want to challenge incumbents, you’re more than free to do that. But just not as an officer of the DNC, because our job is to be a neutral arbiter. We can’t be both the referee and also the player at the same time. You have to make a decision.’”
In pushing back on Thursday, Hogg cited Trump’s power clashes with institutions in saying the party needed to take more aggressive actions. He added that he had not violated any DNC bylaws.
“They’re trying to change the rules because I’m not currently breaking them. As we’re seeing law firms, tech companies, and so many others bowing to Trump, we all must use whatever position of power we have to fight back. And that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Hogg said in a statement.
Thus marking the greatest opposition democrats have mustered against anything this year.
They always have money and energy to fight their own progressive wing.
Sweep out the old guard.
How dare he rock the boat when the current bunch are doing so well.
Hey man, we gotta be patient, the old guard is really busy doing absolutely nothing
Oh c’mon! Insider trading, setting up offshore accounts and shell companies is work!
There’s totally moderates we can flip guys, totally! We’re hot on their trail!
That’s exactly the plan. Schumer has said out loud that the plan is to just let the republicans off the leash, let them sink their own poll numbers and hope they teach the voters a lesson.
That lesson, of course, being that you can put a Democrat in office to do nothing, or you can put a Republican in office and the democrats will still do nothing. These fossilized assholes need a solid kick in the pants. I would like to wish Schumer and his ilk a very merry get fucking lost.
the current DNC strategy is let the gop+trump do enough damage in the hopes that old guard dems eek out a win, any win will do.
the old guard DEMs works with the old guard gop behind the scenes to get deals through, which arnt immediately clear to public. most europeans can see right through the performative politics of the 2 party system.
The outrage is telling. Hogg is making an effort to introduce fresh faces and ideas at the primary level. This gives Democrats a chance to choose which ideas they want to go into play in congress. That is all.
If those voters are happy with what they currently have, the incumbent is safe. If not, those new ideas go up against opposing ideas. If a plurality like those ideas, they get to see them play out in congress. The only risk here is that they lose the seat.
Since at the moment, he’s doing this in reliably blue districts, the risk is lower than elsewhere. This is a recipe for real change in the Democratic party for the better.
The only reason to fight against it so hard (that I see) is the protection of individuals’ comfort at the expense of the welfare of our nation. It’s evidence of moral rot in the the party that is threatened by true representation of the citizens’ needs.
I support Hogg’s efforts - as long as he does not have the morality of “boss Hogg”. (For the kids out there who have no idea of what i mean, find and watch a season of The Dukes Of Hazzard.)
the donors control both the gop and dem , they are afriad they cant control the likes of future aoc, and BERNIES
The democratic party is very big on hierarchy and pecking order from what I’ve seen. They believe that being a long time party member should count for much more than being an actually effective politician or persuasive speaker. To suggest that the ancient corpocentrists should be even remotely threatened is tantamount to heresy.
Let me be unequivocal: No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election, whether on behalf of an incumbent or a challenger
Hah, right. The more accurate statement would be something like
As a DNC officer It’s only acceptable to put your thumb on the RIGHT side of the scale
Lmao and they can’t get rid of him, I fucking LOVE that.
Sucks to suck, status-quo old-guard fucksticks.
If they even fucking dare try its the very last time an entire generation votes D.
Yeah, like if they can’t reform to represent their voters then we’re gonna have to throw the whole party out. Not really the type of play I want to have to make in the current situation though.
What do they say? The best time to start working out was 10 years ago.
The second best time to start is now.
Eh, there’s no shortage of clowns who’ll defend them as the lesser evil (or, God forbid, actually good at what they do) and shut down any attempt at making things better no matter how low they sink.
Sounds like endorsement to me.
Any options for sending them a message aside from the DNC contact form?
Their mailing address:
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE 430 South Capitol Street Southeast Washington, DC 20003
What I’m sending:
“Please find enclosed a printed copy of an email sent to me by Leaders We Deserve in which they thank me for my donation to them. Here you can see that I am willing to donate to causes that credibly represent me. Pay special attention to the absence of a donation in this envelope, as it was not an oversight on my part.”
If you do something similar, black out the “to” line on the email if you don’t want all the spam.
I should have pointed out the mail as well, so thank you.
I more meant direct contact to individuals such as Ken Martin.
I more meant direct contact to individuals such as Ken Martin.
For that, you need to be someone that democrats actually listen to. How’s your netanyahu impression?
Terrible, I unfortunately don’t do a great impersonation of being all about the genocide.
That said, if there were any direct contact information, while I would expect individuals to be ignored, a large amount of direct response would be visible. I’ve already used the contact form, and have my letter written to go out today (not as concise as yours, so I may tweak it).
Just trying to find every avenue possible.
“Let me be unequivocal. No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election, whether on behalf of an incumbent or a challenger,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a press call.
This is a position the DNC has acted contrary to for decades, and only decided they conveniently held when someone wanted to primary centrists. Ken Martin is not a departure from the centrist wing of the party’s decades of self-serving bad faith; he is a continuation and possibly an acceleration of it.
Justice for Bernie!
Nothing surprising here but it is somewhat notable that the DNC response to activists whipping up enthusiasm and engagement among younger voters is to change the bylaws in order to stop them. Real pieces of shit, they are. Proven time and time again.
Woah, there, enthusiasm?! Listen, buddy, we prefer our voters begrudged.
Making reform impossible is a very dangerous game.
“They’re trying to change the rules because I’m not currently breaking them. As we’re seeing law firms, tech companies, and so many others bowing to Trump, we all must use whatever position of power we have to fight back. And that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Hogg said in a statement.
This man has a good head on his shoulders. I still think there are better ways to use Hogg’s position and funding, but political leadership for the day after will also be important so I’m not too miffed.
Summarized translation from political speak:
Stop interfering with out interference!
The single most important job of the DNC is keeping corporate candidates in office and keeping the money flowing. These fuckos have never been impartial. Anyone else still pissed at fucking Hoyer and the DCCC trying to get the progressive candidate to drop out of a primary?
From the above recording, Tellemann to Hoyer: “So before we, before we go any further on that, Crow is the favorite, in no small part Congressman Hoyer, because the DCCC not only put its finger on the scale, but started jumping on the scale very early on…I mean, it’s undemocratic to have a small elite select someone and then try to rig the primary against the other people running. And that is basically what’s been happening”
This was after the DNC had rat fucked Bernie, foisted Hillary on everyone, and lost to the serial failure, trump.
“Pipe down, plebian”
FUCK the DNC. They helped put us in this mess.
