The Democratic Party decides to give the GOP a leg up (DNC data breach)

LittlePinto · Dec 18, 2015

Short version:

The DNC had a shared system for voter data, however the campaigns were supposed to only be able to access their own specific data within it. Unfortunately, the provider made an error and allowed all of the data to be accessed for a short period of time. In that time some Sanders campaign staffers accessed the data for the Clinton campaign. The primary staffer involved was quickly fired by the Sanders campaign and the error corrected by the provider.

Then the DNC decided to cut the Sanders campaign's access to the system all together as a punishment.

Now the Sanders campaign is suing the DNC.

All in the run-up to Iowa.

The RNC is thrilled:

National Republicans used the opportunity to score political points. Sean Spicer, the chief strategist for the RNC, bragged: “Every candidate has equal access to our superior data file at the RNC because we believe primaries should be a process free from party interference and that puts voters and campaigns first.”

He added: “That’s why it is so troubling to see the DNC engage in such heavy-handed favoritism benefitting Hillary Clinton, a pattern which will continue [Saturday] night with another debate deliberately scheduled to limit viewership.”

Long version at The Guardian.

William Haskins · Dec 18, 2015

the limiting of debates and the punishments for violation, the timing of the debates and this punitive measure against sanders are all just more evidence of wasserman-schultz's shielding of the DNC's preferred candidate.

the republicans have no reason to cheer as they're the equivalent of the boat scene in one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

but the democratic party is a dysfunctional object lesson in duplicity and shadiness.

kaitie · Dec 18, 2015

Petition in my siggy.

raburrell · Dec 18, 2015

Gotta love the ability to find fault with Clinton for Sanders staffers breaching her data

A few points: (TPM)
1) It was not one user from the Sanders campaign, it was 4, including the data director. (He's been fired.)
2) The response from the Clinton campaign was measured and reasonable: "We are asking that the Sanders campaign and the DNC work expeditiously to ensure that our data is not in the Sanders campaign's account and that the Sanders campaign only have access to their own data."

The above said, this could've been resolved quite simply by reaching out to Sanders and asking for his assurance in regards to the Clinton campaign's request. The fact that Sanders' campaign is more or less locked out at the moment is not cool.

rugcat · Dec 18, 2015

raburrell said:
Gotta love the ability to find fault with Clinton for Sanders staffers breaching her data

It's not just the Clinton campaign, it's the all-powerful DNC, which is totally controlled by the Clinton people. Let's not forget, if they hadn't put their thumb on the scales during the Clinton/Obama race, President Clinton would never have been able to win the nomination.

Underdawg47 · Dec 18, 2015

The DNC really angers me. Their limiting the number of debates and having them at times when most people will not be watching is despicable. We have to watch Republican debate after another, while many people haven't even seen much of Sanders or O'Malley. Most people know the name Clinton, yet it seems that the DNC is afraid to have more debates because she knows Bernie Sanders has a far better message and has not been influence by the money the wealthy and big business interests give to their campaign. Clinton voted for some very unpopular things such as the Patriot Act, and the war in Iraq, and the difference between the two candidates might sway the voters towards Sanders. But since the DNC raises lots of money from big businesses and the wealthy, it would be against their better interest to try to protect a candidate such as Clinton who will ensure that big corporate money will pour into the DNC. It would further hurt the vast majority of us as our democracy withers and the will of the wealthy minority becomes law. They don't want us to ever have a chance of getting money out of politics and our democracy restored. So I wonder if there is a way for ordinary democrats to fire the head of the DNC and choose leaders who will support them. I don't ever remember voting for Debbie Wasserman Schultz as a democrat.

William Haskins · Dec 18, 2015

rugcat said:
It's not just the Clinton campaign, it's the all-powerful DNC, which is totally controlled by the Clinton people. Let's not forget, if they hadn't put their thumb on the scales during the Clinton/Obama race, President Clinton would never have been able to win the nomination.

wasserman schultz didn't chair the DNC in 2008.

she was the clinton campaign's national co-chair.

LittlePinto · Dec 18, 2015

raburrell;9671973[COLOR=#444444 said:
]

[/COLOR]The above said, this could've been resolved quite simply by reaching out to Sanders and asking for his assurance in regards to the Clinton campaign's request. The fact that Sanders' campaign is more or less locked out at the moment is not cool.

The biggest problem from my perspective is how it appears to the public. It looks like the DNC is trying to undermine Sanders. It doesn't matter what the truth really is, appearance is everything in this game.

Your proposal would have gotten results and avoided the PR mess. No doubt that's why they took a different approach.

kaitie · Dec 18, 2015

Good to know they're all about avoiding conflicts of interest.

raburrell · Dec 18, 2015

Well, I also think Sanders should've stepped up & apologized and offered that assurance himself - it's more what I expect of the man, and I think the campaign's actual response has instead been rather whiny. They are, indeed, the ones who did something wrong, and this was not a low-level person. It looks coordinated. (That said, I've also read that the data director claims he was just trying to point out a vulnerability to the 3rd party vendor that took down the firewall, but if that's all you're doing, you don't have 4 guys run 25 searches and then store the data on your own servers.)

But yeah, Wasserman really isn't doing herself any favors with the appearance that there's a big thumb on the scale here.

Vince524 · Dec 18, 2015

William Haskins said:
wasserman schultz didn't chair the DNC in 2008.

she was the clinton campaign's national co-chair.

An amazing coincidence. I'm sure.

clintl · Dec 18, 2015

Underdawg47 said:
The DNC really angers me. Their limiting the number of debates and having them at times when most people will not be watching is despicable. We have to watch Republican debate after another, while many people haven't even seen much of Sanders or O'Malley.

On the other hand, by the time it's all done, I'll bet that Sanders and O'Malley have had more time to speak at the debates than the Republican candidates, even with fewer debates, just because the time is divided up between 3 candidates rather than 9-10. On the other hand, they are probably are getting less time than Pataki and Graham and Santorum.

rugcat · Dec 18, 2015

William Haskins said:
wasserman schultz didn't chair the DNC in 2008.

she was the clinton campaign's national co-chair.

I believe back then it was Howard Dean. A big Hillary Clinton supporter and not a particular fan of Barack Obama.

Obviously Debbie Wasserman Schultz would prefer that Hillary Clinton get the nomination. But as chair of the DNC there's a slight problem. Bernie Sanders campaign staff stole important voter data from Hillary Clinton's campaign files. This was not inadvertent; it was deliberate – they saw the opportunity and they grabbed it.

Sanders campaign seems to be saying gosh, we're sorry, but there's no reason that we shouldn't continue to have access to the database. We promise we won't do it again.

The DNC is saying let's have an independent audit and see what was taken and where that information is right now, and if the Sanders campaign still has access to it. Until that time, you need to stay out of the database.

Harsh? Yeah, a little. But I don't think just shrugging and saying "oh, well" would be a proper response either.

kaitie · Dec 18, 2015

From what I hear, the DNC was alerted to the problem months ago?

LittlePinto · Dec 18, 2015

kaitie said:
From what I hear, the DNC was alerted to the problem months ago?

According to the Sanders campaign, they alerted the DNC to the breach.

Weaver said the problem with the database's security dated back to October.

"We were very concerned that large amounts of our own data was being downloaded and we contacted the DNC to remedy the situation," he said. "We talked to them and we were assured that this was going to be taken care of. But apparently they are not competent in terms of maintaining the security of their data between the campaigns."

(Source)

But NGP VAN has apparently heard nothing about it:

Again, this bug was a brief isolated issue, and we are not aware of any previous reports of such data being inappropriately available.

(Source)

So either Weaver is lying or NGP VAN is lying or someone at the DNC really dropped the ball when it came to communicating between the two.

A plague on all their houses, I say.

Debeucci · Dec 18, 2015

kaitie said:
From what I hear, the DNC was alerted to the problem months ago?

Yes there has been vulnerabilities in the system. It's not the *same* vulnerability though. Vulnerabilities happen.

I fail to see how this is relevant to Bernie's data chief purposely stealing the data. I can only imagine what Sander's supporters would have done if it were Clinton people who intentionally stole data. I'm not for either candidate but regardless whether you think the DNC is in the tank for Hillary, it's irrelevant to the issue at hand.

Sander's people did something really bad. He should own up to it.

kaitie · Dec 18, 2015

At the moment there are different sides of the story.

It was relevant if there was an ongoing issue and it had not been addressed. Also a few people in a campaign doing something does not automatically make the campaign itself at fault, particularly if it was immediately dealt with.

LittlePinto · Dec 18, 2015

kaitie said:
At the moment there are different sides of the story.

It was relevant if there was an ongoing issue and it had not been addressed. Also a few people in a campaign doing something does not automatically make the campaign itself at fault, particularly if it was immediately dealt with.

They fired the data director and the campaign manager has said,

"Clearly, while the information was made available to our campaign because of the incompetence of the vendor, it should not have been looked at, period."

It'll be interesting to see how the situation continues to unfold.

Don · Dec 19, 2015

Oh, golly. Politicians stealing and lying and bad stuff like that.

Whodathunkit?

Diana Hignutt · Dec 19, 2015

It's nice that no one has to break into any offices these days for this kind of stuff.

Can you imagine back in the day: "But the Watergate Building was unlocked!"

Politics is just filthy. Why do we continue to let the worst of us lead us?

Kylabelle · Dec 19, 2015

Sanders has regained access to the voter files. http://news.yahoo.com/sanders-takes...urt-data-breach-fight-001415412--finance.html

BoF · Dec 19, 2015

Kylabelle said:
Sanders has regained access to the voter files. http://news.yahoo.com/sanders-takes...urt-data-breach-fight-001415412--finance.html

MSNBC Chief Legal Corredpondent Ari Melber predicted yesterday that the dust up would be resolved before tonight's Democraric Debate. While this was a serious matter, it now fades like taillights of a speeding car in the dark.

William Haskins · Dec 19, 2015

funny how the threat of a lawsuit that would pull back the curtain on DNC machinations would do that...

William Haskins · Dec 19, 2015

Sanders gets the fight he wanted

Bernie Sanders has turned months of private grumbling into public accusations that the party establishment is doing everything in its power to elect Hillary Clinton president.

He’s not the first to level that charge. In fact, he’s late to that party. But by twisting his breach of Clinton’s voter files into an indictment of the Democratic Party for temporarily cutting him off from his own data, the underdog has the fight his team has been eager to wage.

Indeed, his campaign says as much.

“In an outsider year, a year of discontent, when the electorate clearly is unhappy with business as usual and politics as usual, for the DNC to try and use the thuggish politics of usual to try and muscle the Sanders campaign? It’s going to backfire on them,” said a top Sanders aide on the eve of the forum. “They couldn’t have given us a bigger favor."

Sanders will carry that embattled outsider message onto the stage tonight, and argue, as Clinton’s even lower-polling challengers have for months, that the Democratic National Committee and its chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, have been in the tank for the Democratic front-runner all along.

Martin O’Malley, for one, has accused the DNC of planning too few debates, and scheduling them on weekends, so that Clinton’s opponents wouldn’t get the national viewership they’d need to rise in the polls. And Jim Webb, who dropped out of the race after the first debate, citing a break from the party, tweeted as Sanders fought over the voter data on Friday: “Good for Bernie. The DNC is nothing more than an arm for the Clinton campaign."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/sanders-gets-the-fight-he-wanted-216965#ixzz3umtJV5n1

rugcat · Dec 19, 2015

Ah, yes. The evil machinations of the DNC. Somehow, they even managed to twist the Sanders campaign's noble effort to level the playing field by stealing data into something unethical on their part.

I'm sure I could find a great analogy with The Force Awakens but I haven't seen the movie yet.

The Democratic Party decides to give the GOP a leg up (DNC data breach)

Perpetually confused

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With great power comes

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Lost in the Fog

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Perpetually confused

With great power comes

Treguna Makoidees Trecorum SadisDee

Are you gonna finish that bacon?

Represent.

Lost in the Fog

With great power comes

Perpetually confused

With great power comes

Perpetually confused

All Living is Local

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Lost in the Fog