Sharpton: Don't Seat Fla., Mich.

WASHINGTON — Seating delegates from Florida and Michigan at the Democratic National Convention would be a grave injustice, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Wednesday in a break with prominent civil rights leaders.

"I firmly believe that changing the rules now, and seating delegates from Florida and Michigan at this point would not only violate the Democratic Party's rules of fairness, but also would be a grave injustice," Sharpton said in a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

"As former presidential candidates we both know that, whether we liked them or not, we adhered to the rules set forth by the Democratic Party to select its nominee for president."

Sharpton, a black activist and radio talk show host, sought the presidency in 2004.

NAACP chairman Julian Bond also wrote Dean recently, taking the opposite position. Bond said failure to seat the delegates would disenfranchise minority voters in Florida and Michigan.

Former U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry and former Justice Department official Roger Wilkins also wrote Dean urging the DNC settle the issue before the convention for the good of the party.

Berry _ who oversaw the 2001 report that studied the disputed 2000 Florida election and found thousands of voters, particularly black voters, were disenfranchised _ said she is also concerned about disenfranchisement of Michigan and Florida voters, although she didn't make a recommendation on how the DNC should resolve the dispute.

The DNC penalized Michigan and Florida for moving their primaries to earlier dates in violation of party rules. Both states were stripped of their delegates, and the party's presidential candidates signed a pledge not to campaign in either state. Florida lost all 210 delegates, including its superdelegates; Michigan, 156.

Since then, waging a hard-fought delegate battle with Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has pushed hard for both states' delegations to be seated. Clinton won Florida's primary Jan. 29 and Michigan's Jan. 15, but was the only candidate to appear on the Michigan ballot after the other candidates removed their names.

Sharpton said he disagreed with those who say minority voters in Florida and Michigan will be disenfranchised.

"That claim, if true, should have been made many months ago before the decision was made to strip these states of their delegates, and, once the decision was made, it should have been vigorously objected to and contested by those who felt it disenfranchised voters," Sharpton wrote. "To raise that claim now smacks of politics in its form most raw and undercuts the moral authority behind such an argument."

The DNC has said it would allow both states to hold a different contest, probably a caucus, that would comply with party rules. Either state can also appeal the penalty to the DNC credentials committee, which will not meet again until this summer.

Comments

[stoprollingover]

Consider this: How many voters in those states did not go to the polls because they were told by the Democratic Party that their votes would not count because delegates would not be seated? How many voters are saying now, "If I had known my vote would count after all, I would have voted!" How is seating the delegates now fair to those people? It isn't.

But now, some people want to reverse the rules after the fact and seat delegates who have no legitimacy. That is cheating, plain and simple. I guarantee you that if the shoe were on the other foot and Obama had gotten more votes in those unsanctioned primaries, Hillary and her backers from the NAACP would be screaming bloody murder over any thought of seating those delegates. She and the NAACP are just trying to game the system.

[liveandlearn]

i tried to convince my neighbor to vote, but she shredded her application for a ballot. now she thinks michigan ought to hold a late vote. but i did vote, and edwards should rue the day he removed his name from the michigan ballot. i voted for hillary, and i expect my vote to count.

howard dean sent me a fund raising email today. i replied to sender with SEAT THE MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA DELEGATES!!!

[stoprollingover]

Your neighbor did not vote because she was told her vote would not count. SHE was trying to play by the rules. You, on the other hand, want to take unfair advantage of that fact.

[ncvoter]

amen "stoprollingover".

Also, some states, like mine (North Carolina) are going by the rules, and our blankety blank votes might not even count.

Why? Because our primary is in May, and we went by the rules.

The rules better not be broken, and hay how about counting North Carolina's votes this time?

[jrterrier]

1.6 million Democrats voted in FL. That's more people than in all the caucuses that Obama has won combined!

But go ahead, Obama already told us that he belived Republicans were "the party" of ideas in the past 10-15 years. I guess he's adopted one of their ideas - disenfranchise FL voters.

[horacekent]

The Clintons will say & do anything to get elected.

If Hillary thought painting her face black, would help with the african-american vote, & that she could get away with it - her & Bill would start looking a bit darker in complexion.

The Clintons are shameless!

Go Obama!!

[liveandlearn]

you will find that as you look into the mirror and blast hillary, so you will eventually look into the mirror and want to blast your prince of hope.

[LoloZ]

Thank you Al, I have always been a fan. And I missed you being a candidate this go-around. If nothing else, you injected humor and a totally different view into the last campaign. I will never forget your line "get your soul to the poll, and stay out of the bushes." LOL
But to the point of the post, Hillary agreed that FL and MI were "beauty contests" and didn't count. She really said that. If those delegates get seated, without a new vote, primary or caucus, we are going to see a riot. Maybe Al will lead it.

[wesaypopnotsoda]

The argument that Mich. and Fla. knew the rules when they moved up their primaries and so should basically shut up is a valid one only if those same people say the same thing about the super delegates. How can you argue the "rules are the rules" and you knew what they were going in and then turn around and try to change the way super delegates decide how they vote, after game has started? You knew what the rules were on how super delegates voted this entire campaign season as well. Also, why do we lump Mich. and Fla. together? Fla. does not need a caucus or a new primary because everyone's name was on the ballot and everyone chose accordingly. The argument that Obama was not allowed to capmaign there is a ridiculous reason to justify such an expensive endeavor such as a caucus and primary. His name was on the ballot just like Clinton's was. I do agree that somehing has to be done about Mich. if they decide to seat the delegates.

[stoprollingover]

The Michigan and Florida situation has nothing to do with the superdelegates. Who said anyone is trying to change the rules about the superdelegates? The rules, ALL OF THE RULES, should be obeyed. Period.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

There was a thread earlier this week (although it didn't stay up for long), about the Obama campaign looking for ways to negate the superdelegates. That is probably what wesay is talking about. And believe me. I listen to Rev. Sharpton's and Warren Ballantine's shows everyday. Both they, and most of their callers are actively seeking ways to disenfranchise the superdelegates.

[askmeificare]

The DNC said months ago that they wouldn't count FL or MI. Sharpton was and is irrelevant.

[stoprollingover]

He certainly is NOT irrelevant in light of the fact that Hillary Clinton and the NAACP are lobbying the DNC to change the rules. Sharpton is simply trying to make sure that the DNC does not cave and change the rules mid-stream. There is a lot pressure from the Hillary camp to get the DNC to go back on their decision. To cheat, in other words.

[askmeificare]

I really don't believe the DNC would change the rule as they go. Well, maybe they would. As a matter of fact, I do believe the DNC would change the rules in the middle of the game.

I stand corrected.

[bauersox]

Scratch a demagogue (Sharpton) and you find there's a fascist lurking underneath.

[Silpat]

Sharpton vs. NAACP

What a headline!!!

[FloridaVote]

if our votes in florida didn't count why were the polling places open? why was obama running adds here? why did so many people wait in lines for hours to vote? you think we missed the primaries that proceeded us? you think that florida is an island to itself? we know the issues, pay taxes, and have the same rights to have our votes counted. more people voted in this state than the four previous primaries.­..please explain how you discredit that?

[stoprollingover]

To answer your question, your polling places were open because your state party held an illegal primary in defiance of the national party's rule. Your state party cannot operate independently of the national party. If they are Democrats, they have to play by the national Democratic Party rules.

None of this would be a problem if your state had not illegally moved up the date of your primary. Because they did, they were penalized.

[Maecenas]

I think Florida should have moved up their primary to Thanksgiving. Party rules be damned!

[FloridaVote]

Hillary 08' my vote and the other 1.7 million people in the state have every right to have our votes counted!

[stoprollingover]

Not if it wasn't a legitimate primary!

[Tankan]

Cheat, any which way you can!

Delegates shouldn't stand for this!

[AnninCA]

Go Sharpten.

You say it all in a way I, white gal, could never accomplish. :)

[AnninCA]

*hehe

As I predicted.­..."eat one another up alive time!"

[Nommo]

Your predictions are based on a profound fear of a particular Black candidate and likely an entire race of people. You are looking forward to some kind of conflagration much like the candidate you support.

Do you like the idea of cluster bombs and civilians?

Would you steal money from old people?

Do you shop at Wal Mart?

Don't you even have a smidgen of curiosity about your candidate's tax returns?

Loser.

[NABNYC]

I agree with Al Sharpton. And here's why.

Hillary Clinton and her husband are among the best-known Democrats in the country. If there was to be an election and people were prohibited from campaigning, Hillary probably would have won. Because few people knew Obama or Edwards.

But when Obama and Edwards were allowed to campaign, to have rallies and get-togethers, to explain their positions, it turns out that more than half of the voting Democrats chose someone other than Hillary Clinton.

Therefore, to say that the vote in a state in which campaigning was prohibited is "fair" is to miss the point. The prohibition benefitted Hillary Clinton and penalized her opponents. It would therefore be wrong to seat those delegates.

As an aside, it is so sad to see the once-courageous NAACP become simply an institution to solicit corporate donations and run ads on TV in February soliciting private donations, and otherwise not do anything.

As always, thanks to Al Sharpton who, when too many adults in the black community are silent, devote their energies only to their own benefit and ignore the real problems of the country, but Al Sharpton keeps sticking his neck out there and doing what is right. Thanks Al.

[liveandlearn]

Therefore, to say that the vote in a state in which campaigning was prohibited is "fair" is to miss the point. The prohibition benefitted Hillary Clinton and penalized her opponents. It would therefore be wrong to seat those delegates.

au contraire! the opponents penalized themselves by removing their names from the ballot in michigan and then refusing to get write-in status by january 4th. it is due to edwards and obama dropping out of the race that neither candidate got votes. these candidates acted to disenfranchise the voters of michigan.

[stoprollingover]

au contraire to you, liveandlearn! Edwards and Obama did not "drop out" of the race in those states. Edwards and Obama were told by the DNC that those states delegates were not going to be seated because they moved their primary date up. If Edwards and Obama had not been told by the party that those delegates would not be seated, they would have campaigned vigorously in those states. Edwards, Obama, and yes, even Hillary, were REQUIRED by the DNC to even sign a pledge not to campaign in those states.

[asa]

All the candidates had plenty of debates that I'm sure Florideans watched. So you can't say that they did not know Obama. If Obama was behind and had won Florida would you believe that Sharpton would be on the same side of the argument he is now. Seriously

[yaya3000]

I agree completely. Where is the NAACP on issues that really matter? Where are they on Darfur? On poverty? To, as you said, normally do next to nothing, and to now so boldly step in a pile, and in the process hurt someone they should be helping, makes no sense.

[hoopesaz]

"Julian Bond also wrote Dean recently, taking the opposite position. Bond said failure to seat the delegates would disenfranchise minority voters in Florida and Michigan"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it would disenfranchise the non-minority voters as well. HOW do people spin this into a racial issue.

[gcee]

Lie, cheat or steal. The Clintons will do/say anything to win!

[liveandlearn]

when you quit looking into your distorted mirror, you will notice that you have none of the grace nor staying power of hillary clinton, who has been treated to this kind of "can't win" reasoning and publicity for sixteen years.