Clinton Backers Sue to Shut Down Voting Precincts

While this may on the surface seem like a Las Vegas news item of limited national importance, the implications on the 2008 Presidential election could be huge.

Allies of Hillary Clinton in Nevada have filed a lawsuit to block the special "at-large" casino precincts set up months ago for those very casino employees.

The machinations are convoluted but the underhanded motives are utterly transparent. Basically, the power play has gone down this way:

When Nevada moved the date of its primary caucus forward, there were caucus sites set up inside Vegas Blvd casinos, so that the thousands of employees there can vote. These sites were approved nine months ago by the state, the Democratic party, and the unions, with everybody seeming satisfied with them.

Until yesterday, when the Nevada State Education Association demanded that the casino precincts be shut down. The only hitch in that objection - the Education Association was part of the group that approved the plan unanimously at the party's Central Committee meeting last March. What's changed? Everything, politically.

The teachers' union's Executive Director is a member of Clinton's Nevada Women's Leadership Council, and the other plaintiffs are similarly aligned with Clinton. When they approved the plan, it looked all but certain Clinton would walk away with Nevada's delegates. But last week, the hugely influential Culinary Workers Union endorsed Obama, making it a competitive contest. Only two days after the endorsement, nearly a year after they approved the casino sites, the teachers union filed suit.

The Culinary Workers are largely cloistered around Strip casinos and would by and large vote at the at-large casino centers. It should be noted the teacher's union is not trying to sue for better voting access for their own members or across the board, but to shut out the Culinary Union populated caucus sites and that Union's ability to vote - teachers, of course, do not generally work on saturdays while the affected casino employee members of the Culinary Union largely do, and since this is caucus and not a primary, the vote requires several hours of their time.

This maneuvering is important because the entire reason the Democratic party approved the plan to move up Nevada's caucus is to give a state with more minorities a voice in the early primary schedule; the vast majority of Nevada's minorities are those very workers clustered around Las Vegas Blvd and shutting the sites down would effectively eliminate the entire reason for their granting Nevada an earlier vote. If the lawsuit is successful, tens of thousands of (likely Obama supporting) casino workers would be disenfranchised in what will probably be a close contest. The Clinton campaign has refused to condemn the suit.

So there you have the whole icky ongoing affair. A judge is scheduled to rule on the suit tomorrow. Apologies that this is not the sexiest story or most organized writing, but I thought the development was worth posting here.

Wow. That is a pathetic move.

It is sad that that this has come to this, yet it in no way shocks me.
Thank you for posting this. I await the ruling tomorrow.

Damn, thanks for the heads up.

Wow. Nothing like saying "HA!! If you can't vote, I'll WIN!"

Of all the-

Why the fuck do politics have to be so damn... political?

I know how stupid that sounds. I love following politcs, but shit like this angers me to no end.

Nevada judges are technically non-partisan when they are elected (we do that officially to break political machines of the habit of gathering voters to vote for the D or R; unofficially so that even educated voters look at the results on Monday and realize that a liberal almost helped get a Constitution-party candidate into office), so there may be some plausible deniability for any back-scenes finagling for which Nevada is so famous. That being said, it's possible that the Clinton campaign didn't quite figure out who to preside over the case either.

I get the distinct impression, however, that Nevada is going Clinton whether actual Nevadans want it to or not; the machine has spoken.

America, why must you continually break my heart?

Grand Moffs don't have hearts.... Lies I tell you. It's all lies.

I have lost any and all respect I ever had for Bill CLinton and do not even get me started on HIllary. My god, her judgment is so impaired that I find myself wondering anew about Whitewater and yes, even poor Vince Foster.

They are scared and desperate that a person of integrity might actually appeal to the masses more than they do, and they will STOP AT NOTHING to ensure they get their arrogant corrupt asses back into the white house. WHY? Not because they want to "help america" but because THEY FEEL ENTITLED TO REIGN!!!!

(*)^&*&(*(&**&%^%$%$#$%%$#^%&*^(*&)*(((^!!!!!!!!

PLEASE anyone who is wondering abt the rumors abt Barack Obama, PLEASE go scan my very long blog, thank you!

Sure sounds like Mrs. Clinton has been pulling a few pages from someone elses playbook eh ?

We vote by mail in ballot here in Oregon, seems to work just fine for everyone.
Perhaps Nevada should give it a try?

I skimmed it. NONE of those attacks are from the Clinton campaign, they are mostly from the right wing or the ignorant media.

Clinton has been doing her fair share of nasty politicking, but your post did not address any of her deeds.

Did not mean to imply that CLINTON was herself behind any of the rumors about Barack Obama, but rumors abound and are still circulating and I'e been asked in PM's to clarify some things, so I tried, dear one.

But let's not pretend Bob Kerry wasn't promised her senate seat and that his comments last month, saying once again that Barack is a MUSLIM with the middle name HUSSEIN were not about his "support" of HIllary, and let's not pretend that the character assassination has nothing to do with her.

oops

Let's also not pretend that inductive reasoning is at all helpful when dealing with politicians.

I don't really have a dog in this hunt, so I don't care much.

But here is the main question: If Hillary wins the nomination, will you vote for her?

Honestly, I always thought I would just shut my eyes and vote for whichever Democrat gets the nod, but I can't rule out doing something nutty, like writing in BO, or just leaving this grand land and going to "America's Hat" as I heard Canada recently referred to, altogether. I've threatened that I would vote for Bloomberg... but I really can't do that....

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

hey I met Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago today at the BARAMA hdqtrs and dude is like 5'3... I towered over him... bizarre... he looks so big on TV

P.S.

I think she is a strong and attractive woman with nice fashion and yes, a record of public service. I supported her for her Senate seat in NYC and I am, in fact, bitterly, bitterly disappointed in her.What I cannot appreciate and what burns me up about her is that she has sold out to the corporate interests of health care corporations, receiving millions from them, and she has caved in every step to the war agenda of DIck Cheney without hesitation... and I mean the Iran vote in particular.

It is not abt who is cuter, or a more interesting figurehead. And it has nothing to do with her husband, her marriage, or her other choices.

It's like middle and high school all over again. There's a reason I was so happy to get the hell out of those places, now the grown-ups are falling prey to adolescent games in something so important for the future of a country.

I'm ashamed.

Update: A few minutes ago, a Nevada District Judge rejected the lawsuit and ruled that the at-large precincts are permissible.

You just beat me to it! Well done!

(If anyone hasn't seen the YouTube of Bill Clinton getting into it with a reporter over this, do it!)

Finally sanity

Thank you. This is good news indeed.