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Sanders wins greater say in Democratic platform; names pro-Palestinian activist
Sen. Bernie Sanders has chosen a well-known advocate for Palestinian rights to help draft the Democratic Party platform this year, after party leaders gave the longshot but deeply popular candidate unusual say over the policy document ahead of Hillary Clinton’s likely nomination.
Sanders was given the power to choose nearly as many members of the Democratic Party platform-writing body as Clinton, who is expected to clinch the nomination next month. That influence resulted from an agreement worked out this month between the two candidates and Democratic Party officials, according to Democratic officials familiar with the arrangement.
Clinton has picked six members of the 15-member committee that writes the platform, and Sanders has named five, the Democrats said Monday ahead of an expected announcement by the Democratic National Committee.
The math is based on the number of popular votes each has received to date, one official said. Democratic Party Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will name four. The campaign choices were selected in consultation with the campaigns and the DNC from larger slates of 12 and 10 suggested by the campaigns.
Sanders’s slate includes James Zogby, a longtime activist on behalf of Palestinian rights as well as a DNC member and official. Zogby currently co-chairs the party’s resolutions committee. His inclusion is a sign of Sanders’s plans to push the party’s policy on Israel toward what he has called a more even-handed approach to the Palestinian cause.
You need to find a way to meet the needs of both. To say we will satisfy one without the other is a recipe for failure,” as peacemakers, Zogby said.
Writing on the institute’s web site Saturday, Zogby noted recent government shifts under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that consolidated his right-wing power base.
“His behavior has been shameful, but so too is the extent to which Israelis, Americans and others continue to enable his malevolent rule,” Zogby wrote.
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Breaking news about local government in D.C., Md., Va.
Sanders also named Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, among his most prominent elected backers, author and environmental activist Bill McKibben and Native American activist Deborah Parker.
The Clinton campaign’s choices are Wendy Sherman, a former top State Department official and Clinton surrogate; Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress and longtime Clinton confidante; Rep. Luis Guttierez of Illinois; Carol Browner, a former director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy; Ohio State Rep. Alicia Reece and Paul Booth of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.
Wasserman Schultz also named former California Rep. Howard Berman; California Rep. Barbara Lee and author and executive Bonnie Schaefer.
Each campaign also has a non-voting representative at committee meetings.
“We’re pleased that the upcoming Democratic Convention will ensure supporters of Senator Sanders are well represented in the drafting of the party’s platform,” Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said. “The Democratic Party historically has been a big tent, representing a diverse coalition, and Hillary Clinton is committed to continue welcoming different perspectives and ideas.”
Time for some serious news.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has chosen a well-known advocate for Palestinian rights to help draft the Democratic Party platform this year, after party leaders gave the longshot but deeply popular candidate unusual say over the policy document ahead of Hillary Clinton’s likely nomination.
Sanders was given the power to choose nearly as many members of the Democratic Party platform-writing body as Clinton, who is expected to clinch the nomination next month. That influence resulted from an agreement worked out this month between the two candidates and Democratic Party officials, according to Democratic officials familiar with the arrangement.
Clinton has picked six members of the 15-member committee that writes the platform, and Sanders has named five, the Democrats said Monday ahead of an expected announcement by the Democratic National Committee.
The math is based on the number of popular votes each has received to date, one official said. Democratic Party Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will name four. The campaign choices were selected in consultation with the campaigns and the DNC from larger slates of 12 and 10 suggested by the campaigns.
Sanders’s slate includes James Zogby, a longtime activist on behalf of Palestinian rights as well as a DNC member and official. Zogby currently co-chairs the party’s resolutions committee. His inclusion is a sign of Sanders’s plans to push the party’s policy on Israel toward what he has called a more even-handed approach to the Palestinian cause.
You need to find a way to meet the needs of both. To say we will satisfy one without the other is a recipe for failure,” as peacemakers, Zogby said.
Writing on the institute’s web site Saturday, Zogby noted recent government shifts under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that consolidated his right-wing power base.
“His behavior has been shameful, but so too is the extent to which Israelis, Americans and others continue to enable his malevolent rule,” Zogby wrote.
Local Politics Alerts
Breaking news about local government in D.C., Md., Va.
Sanders also named Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, among his most prominent elected backers, author and environmental activist Bill McKibben and Native American activist Deborah Parker.
The Clinton campaign’s choices are Wendy Sherman, a former top State Department official and Clinton surrogate; Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress and longtime Clinton confidante; Rep. Luis Guttierez of Illinois; Carol Browner, a former director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy; Ohio State Rep. Alicia Reece and Paul Booth of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.
Wasserman Schultz also named former California Rep. Howard Berman; California Rep. Barbara Lee and author and executive Bonnie Schaefer.
Each campaign also has a non-voting representative at committee meetings.
“We’re pleased that the upcoming Democratic Convention will ensure supporters of Senator Sanders are well represented in the drafting of the party’s platform,” Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said. “The Democratic Party historically has been a big tent, representing a diverse coalition, and Hillary Clinton is committed to continue welcoming different perspectives and ideas.”
Time for some serious news.
.
