National Nurses United, one of the few major unions backing Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Democratic primary bid, issued a blistering statement Thursday accusing Democratic Party officials of “massive irregularities” in the Nevada State Democratic Convention over the weekend and slamming the media for not aggressively covering similar controversies earlier in the race.
“Where was the media outrage we are witnessing now when there was blatant manipulation of the caucuses to engineer a win for Hillary Clinton in February? Where was the reporting then by the same media now so shocked that people remain angry over an unfair process?” union co-president Deborah Burger said Thursday.
“Saturday was just a culmination of conduct by the Nevada Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee.”
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton narrowly edged out Sanders in the convention, winning seven delegates to Sanders’ five amid reports that some of the latter’s supporters were barred from participating. The event was raucous, with the respective candidates’ supporters sometimes getting into physical clashes. At one point, Sanders supporters threw chairs and rushed the stage.
Clinton won the state’s caucuses in February, earning her 13 delegates to Sanders’ 10. The 12 delegates awarded Saturday were in addition to those.
Since then, Democrats aligned with Clinton have sought to portray Sanders’ followers as the ones acting thuggishly. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told CNN she felt “threatened” at the event and was grateful to have security there. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, said late Tuesday that Sanders had added “fuel to the fire.”
Sanders has dismissed the criticism of his supporters as “nonsense.”
The nurses union said such claims distorted the event and ignored the original source of the dispute. They cited a report from Jon Ralston, a noted expert on Nevada politics, that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., engaged in “backroom maneuvering” to tilt the events in Clinton’s favor.
“Our nurses who attended many of these caucuses were shocked and appalled at the behavior they witnessed,” Burger said. “Going forward to Philadelphia and beyond, the Democratic Party must make it clear that it will not again sanction the type of corrupt process we witnessed in Nevada. You can’t let a wound fester.”
The union has spent an estimated $4 million boosting Sanders’ bid, FEC records show.
