Wednesday, March 15, 2017

"Once upon a time, the appointment of a few party hacks to an internal study group wouldn’t warrant much attention. But the Unity Reform Commission represents the party’s chance to make serious changes before 2020 and avoid another Philadelphia. And that’s assuming the Bernie delegates will be Democrats next time around. The commission may also be the last chance to secure the allegiance of the new generation of activists whose future loyalty to the party is no sure bet."

The headline is a mid-item paragraph from here.

Following that paragraph - for the full context go to the item and read what preceded it - but following:

While Clinton has yet to announce her Unity appointments, her choice of co-chair suggests the commission’s factions will line up according to a familiar script. Out of all of the people in the country Clinton could have chosen, she tapped Jen O’Malley Dillon, a party insider, “data analytics pioneer” and breathing embodiment of the DNC as a patronage system for wealthy donors and Beltway consultants. A former executive director of the DNC who helped run Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, Dillon is a partner at the billion-dollar D.C. consulting firm Precision Strategies — a company that has long been under contract with the DNC. Dillon is billing the very institution she is tasked with reforming. (She didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

“With Dillon as chair, that’s like two levels of corruption, right there,” said Nomiki Konst, a journalist and Sanders Unity delegate. “Sanders chose reformers who actually believe in things. I expect Clinton will stack the commission with the Neera Tandens, the Maria Cardonas — the same people with vested interests in the status quo. If Perez is smart, he’ll give Ellison a vote or two.”

If Clinton and Perez do load the commission with Beltway-bubble insiders, they are guaranteed an education in the reform energy and ideas animating the party across the country. The Unity Reform Commission will draft its recommendations after conducting a listening tour across the country, where local party activists will share their priorities and make the case for, say, abolishing superdelegates. Jane Kleeb, the newly elected Nebraska Democratic Party chair and a Sanders delegate to the commission, says she expects those rooms to be full of vocal reform advocates.

“The seven of us [Sanders delegates] have a responsibility to make sure these listening sessions are filled with people who believe we need structural reform,” said Kleeb. “We understand what we’re up against, but we’re going in with the attitude and the promise and the hope that we are going to reform our party. The Perez and Clinton folks need to grasp that we are a growing number of party leaders and the base. I hope they don’t try to shut the process down. We will be very loud to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

They have a death wish, Trump doesn't mind. He'd do another four years, if they hand him that. Perez will do the bidding as he's told, and it will be ugly and a disaster. Primary challengers is what will move the process. It is the only thing that will, and the challengers will be out-moneyed even with grassroots in $27 increments, on average, again.

Don't give up the fight.