Martin O'Malley: DNC Debate Schedule Is Rigged

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

30 August 15

here were no protesters in the streets. The crowd had no hecklers. There was, however, a forceful protest at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting. It wasn’t Bernie Sanders, who did tell the DNC that establishment politics won’t work this time around. It was Martin O’Malley who delivered a scathing rebuke of the DNC debate schedule.

O’Malley called the debate schedule a “cynical move to limit our own party debate.” He called it a rigged process and asked whom it benefited. The main theme of the former Maryland Governor’s critique was that while the Republican debates distort the record, the Democrats’ silence is allowing the GOP to dominate the debate.

O’Malley’s remarks brought the crowd to its feet several times. The afternoon session was also the time slot that Senator Bernie Sanders was speaking, and the guest section was full of Sanders supporters. There was also regular applause from the DNC members sitting in the first 15 rows.

Sitting on both sides of O’Malley as he criticized their plan were the officers of the Democratic National Committee who approved the plan to allow only six debates during the process of choosing the Democratic nominee for president. Just to O’Malley’s right was the chair of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who defended the debate plan last week at the Iowa State Fair.

On the day of the Republicans’ first debate, the DNC announced that they would be sanctioning six debates, starting in October. The schedule includes four debates before the Iowa Caucus, one in each early state, starting with Las Vegas. The Sanders and O’Malley campaigns immediately came out against the plan, calling for more debates. “Four debates? Four debates? Four debates before voters cast their ballots in the early states? One debate in Iowa? One debate in New Hampshire?” O’Malley asked.

Wasserman Schultz is correct that the number of debates that the DNC is sanctioning is consistent with the past. What is new this time is a clause in the rules stating that any candidate who participates in a debate outside of the sanctioned six will be barred from participating in the six DNC debates.

O’Malley’s attorney, Joe Sandler, says the DNC’s debate plan is “entirely unprecedented” and “legally problematic” and that the exclusivity clause is “legally unenforceable.” According to Sandler, “Under Federal Election Commission rules, the format and structure of each debate must be controlled exclusively by the debate sponsor, not by any party or candidate committee.”

“Legally the DNC cannot dictate the format or structure of any debate sponsored by a media outlet or 501(c)(3) organization – including the criteria for participation,” Sandler added. “It would be legally problematic if any of the sponsors of the sanctioned debates has actually agreed to the ‘exclusivity’ requirement. And in any event, it is highly unlikely that any of those sponsors of the sanctioned debates would ultimately be willing to enforce that ‘exclusivity’ requirement,” Sandler told MSNBC, according to News Busters.

During a Q&A after the speech, I asked O’Malley if he would legally challenge the exclusivity clause and he said he would, and he has already served notice to the DNC that he thinks the clause is illegal.

Senator Sanders was also critical of the lack of debates. He thinks the lack of participation in the midterm elections shows the need for more debates, debates all over the country, with the goal of involving more people in the process of choosing a nominee. Sanders also told the establishment organization that establishment politics won’t win in 2016. He believes the large crowds and excitement for his campaign are the result of people being fed up with politics as usual.

Both Sanders and O’Malley were not afraid to take on the party establishment on Friday. Will they organize their own debates? What would the DNC do if candidates challenged them and participated in unsanctioned debates? Would they have Hillary debate James Webb and Lincoln Chaffee and explain why O’Malley and Bernie are off holding their own debates? Things might finally be heating up on the Democratic side. I am looking forward to more debates, and if Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders have anything to say about it, we will get them.

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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