David Spring M. Ed.
Disclaimer The opinions expressed in this article - and all of my other articles on DNC rigging of the 2024 election - are strictly my own. While I am not an attorney, I believe that the US Constitution is plainly written and should be read and defended by all Americans. In addition, Supreme Court rulings that interpret the US Constitution are publicly posted online and are available for anyone to read.
Overview of the DNC Super Delegate Bribery and Kickback Money Laundering Scheme
The first step in achieving justice is making injustice visible.
Mahatma Gandhi
In my three previous reports, I summarized how the DNC has rigged the Delegate Selection process, rigged the State Primary calendar and rigged the Ballot Access rules. I provided evidence that all of these DNC rule changes violate not only the ballot access rights of Presidential candidates but also the voting rights of millions of Democrats.
In this 4th report, we will look at the underlying cause of DNC election rigging – which is the corrupting influence of DNC Super Delegates. Super delegates are delegates who are not “pledged” to support a particular candidate. While they can support any candidate, in fact they typically rubber stamp the DNC Preferred candidate.
We will look at how 75 special “At Large” Super Delegates – corporate lobbyists - appointed by Joe Biden rather than elected by their state party - use billions of dollars in bribes to control hundreds of Party Leader and Elected Official Super Delegates (also known as PLEO Super delegates). We will then explain why DNC Super Delegates are a fundamental violation of the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act also known as the 24th Amendment by violating the One Person One Vote rule.
We should begin with three important points. The first point is that the Republican Party does not use Super Delegates. Only the Democratic Party uses Super Delegates. While DNC Super Delegates have been a corrupting influence in the Democratic Party since they were invented in the 1980’s, the 75 At Large corporate lobbyists Super Delegates have only recently completely taken over the DNC – thanks to the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court Ruling - which opened up the flood gates of corporate bribery by declaring that corporations have the same right as people and money is the same as speech. Citizens United legalized corporate bribery.
The second point is that it is irrelevant that “Super Delegates are not allowed to vote in the first round of the National Convention Nomination process.” Because 75 At Large Super Delegates control the Democratic National Committee – and in particular the Rules Committee – they control how the other 4,000 delegates are selected. The rigged Delegate Selection process controls who the nominee will be months before the convention even occurs. The actual rigging occurs in how the 75 At Large Super Delegates use their billions of dollars in bribes to control the rules on who will become a National Delegate.
The third point is that under the current system, these 75 At Large Super Delegates are all appointed by a single person – the DNC Chair, who in turn is appointed by the President (when there is a Democratic President) or elected by the existing DNC members (when there is not a Democratic President). In the present case, the person who appointed the DNC Chair, Jamie Harrison, was Joe Biden. Harrison then appointed a list of 75 special “At Large” Super Delegates who are in fact nothing more than rubber stamping corporate lobbyists who represent some of the world’s largest corporations such as Big Oil, Big Banks, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big War Corporations – in short Big Everything.
These massive corporations control trillions of dollars in wealth. They funnel a tiny fraction of this wealth through their 75 At Large Super Delegates to control the leaders of the Democratic Party. In the case of the 2024 election, they have amassed more than two billion dollars to rig the 2024 election. While two billion dollars might seem like a lot of money to any normal person, these corporations can simply write it off as a “business expense” on their tax returns. The two billion dollars is therefore being robbed from US tax payers who are forced to pay billions of additional dollars in taxes to make up for this DNC Election Rigging money laundering operation.
How 75 At Large Corporate Lobbyist Super Delegates control the other 700 Super Delegates of the DNC
The DNC consists of about 475 Super Delegates. But only 75 are corporate lobbyists appointed by President Biden through his corporate lobbyist DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. In addition, the DNC includes 50 State Party chairs, 50 State party chairs and hundreds of Party Leaders and Elected Officials – more commonly called PLEOs. Yet on nearly every vote, these 400 State Party members vote in lock step with the 75 At Large Delegates. The reason the 400 State Party members vote with the 75 Corporate Lobbyists is that there jobs depend on it. Funding for their State Party comes from the DNC.
Here is a table showing just a small Party of State Party funding dolled out to State Parties by the DNC:
This money is used to pay the salary of the State Party Chair and Vice Chair. This is why they vote to keep the Super Delegates.
According to the website, Open Secrets dot org, the total the DNC collected in 2020 was $457 million. For 2024, thus far, the DNC has collected about $2 billion.
In addition to the 400 State Members of the actual DNC and the 75 at large members of the DNC, there are about 300 additional Super Delegates who are not technically part of the DNC – but who likely owe their election and allegiance to the same corporations that control the DNC . These include 236 Democratic members of the US House, 48 Democratic members of the US Senate and 28 Democratic State Governors – for a grant total of 775 Super Delegates – all of whom get massive amounts of money from the DNC Gravy Train.
How the DNC gets billions of dollars in donations
While individual donors to individual campaigns are limited to a maximum of $3,300 per election, there a person or corporation can give each State Committee and the National Party (DNC) $5,000. So all 50 states is $250,000 Check out the following table:
In addition to giving States and the DNC money, billionaires and wealthy corporations can give the “Biden Victory Fund” about one million dollars each. This is how Biden raised $1.4 billion in bribes for the 2020 election and has raised $2 billion in bribes so far for the 2024 election. .
On June 1, 2023, the Biden Victory Fund filed this document with the Federal Election Commission: https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00744946/1706300/
Note that in addition to collecting bribes for Biden and the DNC, the Biden Victory Fund collects bribes for all 50 States:
Here is the web page to donate to the Biden Victory Fund:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/biden-victory-fund-2
Here is an explanation of where the money will go:
The first $6,600/$10,000 from a person/multi-candidate committee (“PAC”) will be allocated to Biden for President, with the first $3,300/$5,000 designated for the primary and the next $3,300/$5,000 for the general election. The next $41,300/$15,000 from a person/PAC will be allocated to the DNC. The next $510,000/$255,000 from a person/PAC will be split equally among the Democratic state parties from these 50 states... Any additional funds will be allocated to the DNC.
Put in plain English, the first $48,000 goes to Biden and the DNC (which is Biden). The next $510,000 goes to the Biden campaign in each of the 50 states. The rest of the $400,000 goes to the DNC which then uses these funds to re-elect Biden.
The new FEC agreement allows the Biden Victory Fund to collect up to $929,600 from an individual donor and $415,000 from a multi-candidate committee (PAC).
https://www.givegreen.com/candidate/biden-victory-fund
The biggest donors to the Biden Victory Fund have been Alphabet (aka Google), Microsoft and a series of Hedge Fund billionaires – all of whom benefit from the greatest concentration of wealth and power in human history and want to keep this gravy train going.
Of course, mega corporations spend more than a million each electing Biden. In addition to giving a million to the Biden Victory Fund, Mega corporations and billionaires form Super Pacs which are a similar money laundering operation. According to Open Secrets, in the 2020 election, they spent a record $3.2 billion – triple the one billion they spent in 2010 before the Supreme Court opened the Corporate Bribery Floodgates with Citizens United. Expect the amount for the 2024 election to go above 4 to even 5 billion:
Super Delegate Washington State Example
To understate how Super Delegates negate the voting power of ordinary citizens, we will look at Washington state - which has about 6 million voters which are evenly divided into 10 Congressional Districts each with about 600,000 voters.
Washington has been granted about 120 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. But thanks to nearly half of our delegates being Super Delegates and PLEO Delegates, only 60 National Delegates will be chosen at our Congressional District (CD) Caucuses. This is about 6 National Delegates per Congressional District. Thus, each CD Pledged National delegate will represent about 100,000 voters from their Congressional District. This is true of every Congressional District in the United States. Sadly, each DNC Super Delegate will have MORE VOTING POWER than 100,000 normal voters.
To make matters worse, there are a select group of 75 At Large Super Delegates appointed by President Biden who in fact are “Big Everything” corporate lobbyists who have donated millions of dollars to Biden and the DNC. This bribery and kickback money laundering operation gives these 75 At Large Super Delegates more power than the 700 other Super Delegates and much more power than the 4000 normal delegates as these 75 At Large Super Delegates control the DNC Rules committee.
It does not matter if Super Delegates are not allowed to vote in the first round. What matters is that these At Large Super Delegates have been allowed to rig all of the rules regarding how the other 4000 delegates are selected. In short, each DNC At Large Super Delegate has more power than a million normal voter.
This is a clear violation of the 14th “Equal Protection” amendment as well as the 24th “Voting Rights” amendment – which was passed thanks to the efforts of Robert Kennedy Junior’s father, Robert Kennedy, and his uncle, President John Kennedy.
Even worse, it is not currently known who these 75 At Large Super Delegates are because the DNC has refused to publish the list on the DNC website.
However, we do know who some of these key At Large Super Delegates are. We will take a look at their corporate lobbyist backgrounds in the next section.
Meet the DNC Election Rigging At Large Super Delegates
In this section, we will expose just a few of the DNC At Large Super Delegates. In 2021, Joe Biden chose a corrupt corporate lobbyist named Jaime Harrison to be the chair of the DNC. Jaime Harrison was the former chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party. He is therefore strongly in favor of moving South Carolina ahead of New Hampshire and Iowa. However, what Harrison is most noted for is that from 2008 to November 2016, he was a principal at the Podesta Group, which at the time was run by Hillary Clinton bundler Tony Podesta (related to Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager).
While at the Podesta Group, Harrison lobbied for major corporations included Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Wells Fargo, BP America, Merck and Bank of America. So Harrison was a corporate lobbyist whose job was to help Wall Street Banks, War profiteers, Oil companies and drug companies buy off the US Congress. One of his clients, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which represents coal companies like Murray Energy and Peabody Energy, fought against President Obama’s Clean Power plan during the period in which Harrison was registered to lobby for them.
Harrison then appointed 75 At Large Super Delegates who were actually appointed by Joe Biden. One of these At Large Super Delegates is Minyon Moore who is now not only the Co-chair of the DNC Rules Committee but also has been designated as the Chair of the 2024 Democratic Party National Convention. Minyon Moore is a corporate lobbyist for the Dewey Square Group (DSG) where she has been paid paid millions of dollars by an anti-union group fighting state labor protections. DSG was retained by the health insurance industry during the Obamacare debate to oppose Medicare for All. The DNC has voted to oppose Health Care for All by a margin of 4 to 1. DSG was also retained by the big banks to roll back Dodd-Frank’s financial reforms. According to their website, DSG has about 60 corporate lobbyists on their staff.
The DNC Resolutions Committee is co-chaired by Lottie Shackelford, an at-large DNC Super Delegate who is a corporate lobbyist for Global USA, Shackelford’s past lobbying clients include Allstate Insurance, Hyundai, and from 2000-2008, a coalition of Big Banks called FM Watch.
Charlie King, another at-large DNC Super Delegate, is a partner at lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs. Mercury was hired by 68 clients to lobby the federal government in 2019, including the Government of Qatar and defense company United Technologies, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, receiving a total of $9.5 million in lobbying fees. In 2018, reporter Lachlan Markey found eight additional foreign-registered clients signed by Mercury after it succeeded in getting Russian aluminum parent company En+ removed from the Treasury Department’s sanctions list.
Mercury has had several lobbying clients in the energy and natural resources sector and the oil and gas industry, including natural gas company PennEast Pipeline ($120,000), methanol maker Yuhuang Chemical ($420,000), and EnVen Energy Ventures ($80,000), an oil and gas exploration and drilling company in the Gulf of Mexico. Other Mercury clients included the South Carolina Ports Authority ($160,000), Hyundai motor company ($240,000), and defense contractor General Dynamics ($290,000).
Tony Coelho, another at-large DNC Super Delegate, pioneered aggressive party fundraising from corporate PACs that had business before Congress. In 1985, a profile in The New Republic reported that he fought to retain tax breaks enjoyed by independent oil and gas drillers, lining up their financial support for the Democratic Party. After resigning his House seat in 1989 due to a brewing loan scandal, Coelho later lobbied the federal government as a founding partner of Vectis Strategies in 2013 and 2014 for electric provider Edison Utilities.
Joanne Dowdell, another at-large DNC Super Delegate has been since April 1, 2016 a registered lobbyist for News Corp.
Craig Smith, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a corporate lobbyist for PSB. PSB’s corporate clients listed on its website include the California Chamber of Commerce, Coca-Cola, Ford, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, McDonald’s, and Microsoft, American Express, BP, and Novartis.
Marcus Mason, another at-large DNC Super Delegate, is a lobbyist for clients including Fox Corporation, private equity firms Cerberus and Carlyle Group, and student loan company Navient.
Nicole Isaac, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is director of international strategic response at Facebook.
Kenny Thompson, another at-large DNC Super Delegate, is vice president of external affairs, North America at PepsiCo.
Tonya Williams, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is head of external engagement & corporate responsibility at SoftBank Group.
Tonio Burgos, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a registered lobbyist for New York Presbyterian Hospital and others, whose firm’s lobbying clients included Greater New York Hospital Association and insurance company AmeriFlex. Burgos is also a former fossil fuel industry lobbyist.
Harold Ickes, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is co-founder of the Ickes and Enright Group, whose lobbying clients include New York’s largest healthcare provider Northwell Health and the Greater New York Hospital Association.
James Roosevelt, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is the chair of the Policy and Regulatory Committee for powerful industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).
Maria Cardona, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is another corporate lobbyist for Dewey Square Group, whose corporate clients include AT&T, several medical companies, and Countrywide financial corporation, the implosion of which triggered the subprime mortgage crisis. In 2016, The Intercept reported that consultants with Dewey Square Group lobbied against Obamacare and the Dodd-Frank financial reform package.
Bel Leong-Hong, another at-large DNC Super Delegate whose corporate clients have included GE Capital Financial and Lockheed Martin.
Bill Owen, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a health care industry lobbyist who donated nearly $32,000 to federal Republican candidates and committees from 2018 to May 2020, including to the campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz.
Barney Frank, another at-large DNC Super Delegate, received over $1 million in payments from Signature Bank as of May 2018 when he //medium.com/@SenatorHeitkamp/lets-talk-about-the-truth-3485be205ff2>">agreed that the Trump administration’s deregulation of banks did not pose a major threat.
Harold Ickes, another at-large DNC Super Delegate , is a powerful lobbyist whose past clients have included Deloitte Consulting, Verizon, Northwell Health, JP Morgan Chase, Mastercard, and United Airlines.
Joe Donnelly, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a partner at prominent lobbying firm Akin Gump, to “advise clients in the financial services, defense and health care industries, among others, on a host of policy matters.”
Mark Siegel another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a partner at lobbying firm Locke Lord Strategies, where he has represented Pakistan in the United States. Siegel’s previous lobbying clients with the firm include America’s Mutual Banks (2014 and before), America’s Mutual Holding Companies (2014 and before), the Financial Planning Coalition (2013 and before), and the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Charlie Baker, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is president and co-founder of lobbying firm Dewey Square Group. In 2015, Baker was named chief administrative officer of Hillary for America. In 2016, journalist Lee Fang reported in The Intercept that Baker had been registered in 2009 to lobby for the Medicines Company, a drug firm, and for Citizen Financial Group to help the bank lobby against Dodd-Frank regulations in 2010.
John Podesta, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, founded the Podesta Group lobbying firm, which through 2017 lobbied for hundreds of major corporations, including a coalition of major American coal companies that from 2009 to 2012 fought against President Obama’s Clean Power plan. Podesta founded the Center for American Progress (CAP) in October 2003, a think tank whose corporate donors have included Comcast, Walmart, General Motors, Pacific Gas and Electric, General Electric, Boeing and Lockheed. Over the past several years, CAP has advanced increasingly neoliberal policies and rejected a single-payer health care system, with senior staffers leading attacks on Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan during last year’s Democratic presidential primary.
Leticia Van de Putte, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a lobbyist who co-founded the bipartisan external relations firm Andrade-Van de Putte & Associates, which a San Antonio Express News column last year described as “connecting business clients with government officials.”
Michael Stratton another at-large DNC Super Delegate is the senior policy director at Denver, Colorado-based law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck, whose hundreds of corporate lobbying clients include dozens of oil, gas, and natural resources companies. Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck is the second largest lobbying firm at the federal level.
Marcel Groen, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP, a politically-connected Philadelphia law firm whose corporate clients include Oaktree Capital, Biomed America, life sciences company Novasep Holding SAS, and PuraCap Pharmaceutical, LLC.
Joseph Smallhoover, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is “Counsel to a major US based pharmaceutical company in connection with its acquisition of rights to various molecules and their marketing in Europe.”
Daniel Halpern, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a past chairman of the Georgia Restaurant Association, a business group that in 2014 opposed a minimum wage increase to $10.10 in Georgia.
Erskine Bowles, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton from 1996-1998 and a co-chair with Alan Simpson of President Obama’s deficit-reduction commission in 2010, co-founded the investment banking firm Bowles Hollowell Conner, which was active in private equity before its acquisition in 1998 by a bank holding company that later became part of Wachovia. A board member of the bipartisan policy organization Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget, Bowles went on to found Campaign to Fix the Debt, funded by Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson, which has been criticized as an advocacy group that advances corporate tax cuts and for slashing spending on social services. Fix The Debt “are spending millions, but they are protecting billions in defense contracts and tax giveaways that would otherwise be on the chopping block,” said Kevin Connor of the watchdog group Public Accountability Initiative in The New York Times.
Chris Tapio another at-large DNC Super Delegate is the president of Townsend Calkin Tapio Public Affairs, whose corporate clients include ExxonMobil, California Association of Health Plans, Kaiser Permanente, California Hospital Association, Chevron, Visa, PG&E, and California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF).
Emmy Ruiz, another at-large DNC Super Delegate is a partner at NEWCO Strategies. In February 2019, Ruiz joined as senior adviser for Sen. Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign. Previously, in 2016, Ruiz was Hillary Clinton’s state director in Nevada and Colorado. NEWCO partner Jess O’Connell signed up in July 2019 to advise the Buttigieg campaign on early primary states.
Why the Super Delegate System is Unconstitutional
One might think that until we can get rid of Citizens United, there is nothing that can be done to keep corporate lobbyist super delegates from bribing and running the DNC. However, Citizens United never envisioned that giving corporations the same rights as people would become a blank check to destroy both the Democratic Party and Democracy.
In a previous report, we summarized the 1966 Supreme Court ruling called Harper v Virginia. This ruling clarified the meaning and purpose of the 14th and 24th Amendments. A fundamental right of any democracy is the civil right of each citizen to participate equally and fully in free and fair elections. The right to vote does not do much good if the DNC is allowed to set up Super Delegates as a means of rigging elections.
The Fourteen Amendment, commonly called the “Equal Protection” Amendment, was ratified on June 9, 1868. Section 2 states that this right to equal treatment includes the right to vote in certain elections including: “the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof.” This means that the Fourteenth Amendment applies equal treatment in voting specifically to all Presidential Elections which affect the choice of electors. Clearly, State Primaries and Delegate Selection elections are elections that have a direct effect on the choice of Presidential electors. A fair vote requires One Person One Vote. It is not a fair election if 75 At Large Super Delegates have more power than a million Democratic Party voters.
Section 2 of the 24th Amendment prohibits state and local governments from structuring elections “in a manner which results” in members of a group defined by race or color “hav[ing] less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.”
Clearly giving a tiny group of people the right to select who is on the ballot and whether there will even be an election violates the 24th Amendment. The 14th and 24th Amendments apply to both major political parties because these political party elections have a direct effect on the choice of Presidential electors. In short, the entire process leading to choosing Presidential electors needs to be free and fair. Allowing wealthy corporations to spend billions of dollars rigging elections results in a government “of the rich, by the rich and for the rich.”
Numerous studies have shown that our current Congress consists almost entirely of millionaires who are much more responsive to their wealthy campaign donors and much less responsive to the interests of the poor and middle class. This in turn as resulting in an ever increase concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a tiny fraction of the population.
In a landmark 1966 Voters Rights decision, Justice William O. Douglas, explained that voting rights were the foundation of democracy and needed to be protected in ALL elections. Here is a link where you can read the entire decision: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/383/663/
Here is a quote from this historic decision:
"Undoubtedly, the right of suffrage is a fundamental matter in a free and democratic society. Especially since the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights, any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized."
Why claims that the Democratic Party can never be reformed are wrong
Given the current Super Delegate System, and their absolute power to control the DNC Nomination process by controlling the DNC Rules committee and controlling billions of dollars in bribes, you might assume that it would be impossible to change this rigged system.
Thankfully for the future of our Democracy, you are wrong. In this section, we will explain how the Democratic Party can be reformed despite the fact that it is currently being controlled by corrupt corporate lobbyists.
Critics of Kennedy’s attempt to reform the Democratic Party point out that Bernie Sanders attempted to reform the Democratic Party Super Delegate system in 2016 and failed. In fact, while Bernie Sanders constantly complained about the Super Delegate System, he failed to take any significant action which could have fixed the DNC Super Delegate Election Rigging problem. I know because I was intimately involved in the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016 and I closely watched his so-called reform efforts.
Here are just some of the differences between Robert Kennedy Jr. and Bernie Sanders:
First, Kennedy has openly defied DNC Election Rigging rules. The DNC made it clear that Iowa and New Hampshire votes would not count if they did not change their long standing state laws. Iowa and New Hampshire refused to change their state laws. Kennedy campaigned in Iowa and New Hampshire any way.
Second, Kennedy has asked the DNC to revise their rules and respect State laws. The DNC threatened Kennedy that if he campaigned in Iowa and New Hampshire, he would not be allowed on the ballot in Georgia and several other states. Instead of caving to illegal DNC Rules as Bernie did, Kennedy has asked the DNC to revise their rules so that Kennedy is not punished merely for following state laws. By contrast, Sanders never openly challenged the DNC.
Third, Kennedy has publicly denounced the DNC Election Rigging Rules. See for example, this recent 4 minute video called DNC Plans to Destroy Democracy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eir0IUMTM_4
While Bernie Sanders denounced the DNC Super Delegate System, he never challenged the underlying rules that enable the Super Delegate System.
Fourth, Robert Kennedy Jr. is not Bernie Sanders. Kennedy is an attorney with a long history of filing successful lawsuits against corporation corruption. Kennedy has already used a series of legal actions to clean up the Hudson River. Look for him to take similar legal actions to clean up the Democratic Party.
Kennedy has not ruled out the option of taking the DNC to court. Despite my urging that Bernie Sanders (and his campaign manager Jeff Weaver) take the DNC to court, Bernie never filed a single court action. It was left to a couple of his supporters to file the DNC Fraud Lawsuit – but they only filed AFTER the 2016 election and they only asked that donations be returned. The DNC Fraud Lawsuit never challenged the constitutionality of DNC Super Delegates.
The DNC claims that the Supreme Court ruling in Democratic Party v Wisconsin gives them a blank check to do whatever they want. Attorneys for the DNC came out and said this during the DNC Fraud Lawsuit. This is why they believe they have the right to appoint 75 Super Delegates that over-ride the will of 100 million voters.
However, there are other Supreme Court rulings, such as Harper v Virginia, that explain that the Voting rights of citizens also out weigh the rights of states to rig elections. By the same reasoning, the voting rights of citizens also out weigh the right of the DNC to rig elections.
While I have never met Kennedy, I have spent several years studying his research and his writing. Kennedy is one of the smartest people to ever run for President. Kennedy is also one of the most courageous people on the planet.
Who else was willing to stand up to Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci during the past three years of lock downs, mask mandates and clot shots?
Do not under estimate Kennedy’s ability to affect change.
Fifth, Kennedy’s campaign manager, Dennis Kucinich is not Jeff Weaver. Dennis Kucinich has a long successful record in challenging the DNC elite with Bottom Up grass roots political organizing. This track record goes all the way back to his early days when he was the Mayor of Cleveland. Kucinich has always been a bottom up organizer.
By contrast, Bernie Sanders campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, was completely averse to bottom up organizing. While the Bernie campaign held a lot of rallies, it was all for show. Not a single rally ever explained how those who attended could take back the Democratic Party from the bottom up. Instead, it was all about what Bernie was going to do – not about what those who attended the rallies needed to do.
This is why Bernie never trained his supporters in how to take back the Democratic Party from the bottom up. Rather, it was up to local Bernie supporters like me to conduct this local training on how to become a Precinct Committee Officer - as the first step in taking over your local and state Democratic Party is running to be a PCO in your own Precinct. Thanks to the influence of Dennis Kucinich, look for Kennedy to place much more emphasis on taking back the Democratic Party from the Bottom Up.
Sixth, there are several new free political organizing tools to help Kennedy supporters organize in their State and Local communities. For example, there is now a free political organizing tool called Freedica that can help local citizens work directly with other local citizens to organize their local community. This makes it possible to build a local political movement for almost no cost. Here is a link to the Freedica website: https://freedica.org/
The Bottom Up way to stop the DNC from rigging all future elections is to run to be a PCO in your Precinct – and then work with other Kennedy Democrats to take over your Legislative District and then take over your State Party. If Kennedy Democrats take over 30 State Parties then they can vote to a Party Chair that is not corrupt.
Many people assume that since Bernie failed to reform the Democratic Party, then Kennedy will also fail. However, when you combine Kennedy’s legal track record in successfully suing major corporations with Kucinich’s track record in bottom up organizing, we have a much stronger challenge to the DNC Super Delegate system.
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Also if you change to an indie/3rd party run now, they’ll say, “See, we told you so! Mr Kennedy’s candidacy was always about splitting the anti-Trump vote.” Although a ludicrous slander, deny them this talking point as long as possible until and unless indie is the only option.
Why Kennedy running as an Independent would be political suicide
For Kennedy to run as an Independent or Third Party candidate would be political suicide – not only for Kennedy but for the American people.
Many Independent commentators have correctly noted that the DNC has rigged elections for a long time. They therefore conclude that the DNC will never let Kennedy be the nominee and that Kennedy should therefore leave the Democratic Party and run as an Independent or Third Party candidate. What these well meaning commentators fail to realize is that driving Kennedy out of the Democratic Party before the 2024 Primaries is exactly what the DNC wants!
If Kennedy does not run as a Democrat, it will be much easier for the Democratic Party to avoid running State Primaries. Many States have laws and rules that if there is only one declared candidate, then there is no need for the Democratic Party to even hold a primary. There will be no need for Biden to even leave his basement and there will be no need to any debates.
Instead, Biden will automatically be given all of the National Pledged Delegates for all of the States. The DNC Super Delegates can then use these Robot National Delegates to hand the Democratic Party Nomination to whoever they want.
Ironically, the Democratic Nominee is not likely to be Joe Biden as Biden has extremely low poll numbers. His poll numbers will only continue to get worse as our Economy crashes and Inflation spirals in 2024 – and as it becomes apparent that Biden’s War in Ukraine is a disaster – and as it becomes apparent that Biden has major corruption problems with his hidden deals to Ukrainian and Chinese energy companies.
What the DNC really wants is a last minute Bait and Switch operation where some other candidate will be selected at the National Convention. This could be Kamala Harris. But her poll numbers are even worse than Biden. More likely, the DNC nominee will be either Michelle Obama or Gavin Newsom.
But Biden can not drop out now because then the DNC would actually have to hold State Primaries. During these State primaries, Harris, Newsom and or Obama would have to debate Kennedy. Kennedy would likely defeat Harris, Newsom and Obama resulting in the kind of disaster the Democratic Party faced in Chicago back in 1968.
Back in 1968, the DNC made the mistake of holding primaries – where anti-war candidates the DNC did not want (namely Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy) wound up winning a bunch of delegates to the National Convention. The DNC was able to use the “Party Boss” system to nominate a candidate who did not run in any primary (Hubert Humphrey). But the outrage and riots caused the DNC to lose to Nixon a few months later.
The solution in the eyes of the DNC is to simply not have Democratic Party not run State Primaries in 2024. Kennedy running against Biden upsets the DNC 2024 Election Rigging Plot – but only if Kennedy continues to run as a Democrat.
There are at least three additional problems with the advice being given to Kennedy to run as an Independent or Third Party Candidate.
The first and most important problem is that allowing the DNC to drive Kennedy out of the Democratic Party increases the chances of the DNC rigging not only the 2024 election but also all future elections. If the new DNC election rigging rules are allowed to stand unchallenged, the corporate corruption behind these new rules will become even more entrenched in the 2028 election.
Sadly, naive political commentators simply do not understand the power of the Dark Side and their Dark Money. The DNC has already amassed a War Chest of more than $2 billion for the 2024 election. No reasonable person would claim that any Independent campaign or Third Party could win against this level of corruption. The only way the DNC Election Rigging system will be exposed is if Kennedy continues to run as a Democrat.
The second problem is with Kennedy running as an Independent or Third Party is that Kennedy might no longer have “legal standing” to challenge the constitutionality of the DNC rules. Courts in the US have this crazy rule that a person has to be directly harmed by the actions of another before they can bring a legal action. As long as Kennedy continues to run as a Democrat, he clearly is being directly harmed by the new DNC rules and therefore he has legal standing to challenge these DNC rules in state and federal courts.
Moreover, the courts require what is called “actual harm” rather than some sort of hypothetical harm. Kennedy must continue running in order to be actually harmed. Otherwise the DNC can claim that they were just kidding and that they would not have actually carried out their new unconstitutional rules.
It is common for courts to refuse to hear a case based on these procedural issues. This way, the courts do not have to address the real problem – which is the fact that the new DNC rules disenfranchising the voting rights of millions of Americans. But sadly, the only practical way to get rid of the DNC election rigging rules is for Kennedy to continue running as a Democrat so he will have legal standing and be actually harmed and therefore be able to challenge the rules in court.
The third problem with Kennedy running as an Independent or Third Party is that no Independent or Third Party candidate has ever won the Presidency.
Below is a Table of Third Party and Independent Presidential Campaigns during the past 130 years.
|
Year |
Third Party |
Candidate |
National % |
|
1896 |
Populist |
James Weaver |
9% |
|
1912 |
Progressive |
Former President |
27% |
|
1912 |
Socialist |
Eugene Debs |
6% |
|
1924 |
Progressive |
Wisconsin Governor |
17% |
|
1948 |
Progressive |
Former Vice President Henry Wallace |
2% |
|
1968 |
American |
George Wallace |
13% |
|
1972 |
Libertarian |
John Hospers |
1% |
|
1980 |
Independent |
John Anderson |
7% |
|
1992 |
Independent |
Ross Perot |
19% |
|
1996 |
Reform |
Ross Perot |
9% |
|
2000 |
Green |
Ralph Nader |
3% |
|
2004 |
Green |
Ralph Nader |
1% |
|
2008 |
Green |
Ralph Nader |
1% |
|
2012 |
Green |
Jill Stein |
1% |
|
2012 |
Libertarian |
Gary Johnson |
1% |
|
2016 |
Libertarian |
Gary Johnson |
3% |
|
2016 |
Green |
Jill Stein |
1% |
|
2020 |
Libertarian |
Jo Jorgensen |
1% |
|
2020 |
Green |
Howie Hawkins |
One quarter of one percent |
Despite the fact that no Independent or Third Party run has ever come close to succeeding, many Independent Commentators are claiming that in a three way race between Kennedy, Trump and Biden, should no candidate get the majority of Electoral College votes, that the House of Representatives might choose Kennedy as the compromise candidate.
What this argument fails to understand is that it is major corporations who actually run both the Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives. They would chose Biden because they know that Trump is too much of a loose cannon and Kennedy has openly avoid to end corporate control of Congress.
In addition, while Kennedy is popular among Republican and Independent Voters in addition to Democratic Party voters, he is not in fact a “compromise” candidate. He is more of a transformational candidate in that he has openly pledged to get rid of corporate control of the US government. His real adversary is not the Democratic Party, it is the wealthy multinational corporations. These corporations have put in two billion dollars to make sure that Kennedy does not get the nomination. If Kennedy runs as an Independent, these same corporations will kick in another two billion to make sure that Kennedy does not win a single state.
In answering a question at a September 14, 2023 rally in New Hampshire, Kennedy stated that “If they (the DNC) jam me, I am going to look at every option… I have to make a decision by October 15th. ”
The crowded cheered at the possibility that Kennedy might run as an Independent or Third Party candidate. Sadly, they simply have failed to study the history of Presidential Elections. The closest any non-major party candidate has come to winning the Presidency was in the 1912 Election in which former President, Teddy Roosevelt, ran a third party campaign. Woodrow Wilson got 42% of the vote, Roosevelt got 27% of the vote and Taft got 23% of the vote. Roosevelt only carried 6 states and Wilson was elected. Roosevelt’s new Progressive Party folded after this election and it was essentially the end of Roosevelt’s political career.
Below is the Electoral College vote with States that voted for Roosevelt in Green:
Henry Wallace and the Progressive Party
Before 1940, a populist called Henry Wallace was the Vice President under FDR. Unfortunately, the corporate wing of the party thought Wallace was too much on the side of the people. They therefore succeeded in replacing Wallace with Harry Truman during the 1944 election. After FDR passed away in 1945, Truman served the rest of the term and ran for re-election in 1948.
Wallace opposed Truman’s War policies. He therefore formed his own party, called the Progressive Party and ran for President against Truman on a campaign promising Universal Healthcare as a basic human right. His Progressive Party included Elliot Roosevelt, a war hero and the popular son of FDR.
Sadly, Wallace only got 3% of the vote and did not win a single state. Truman got 50% of the vote and defeated Dewey. Wallace and his supporters were accusing of being Russian puppets. Running outside the Democratic Party was political suicide because he and his supporters failed to realize that millions of Americans simply vote for whoever the Democrat is on the ballot and are simply not as aware of the issues as Wallace and the members of his Progressive Party were.
The Spoiler Problem
Because Kennedy draws support equally from Democrats, Republicans and Independents, the claim that he would be a “spoiler” who split the Democratic Party vote leading to the election of Trump is not true. Kennedy has been critical of both Biden and Trump in all of his campaign speeches.
However, in politics, the truth does not matter. The corrupt corporate wing of the Democratic Party would use Kennedy running against them as an “excuse” to explain why they lost to Trump – just as they falsely claimed in 2016 that the Russians had caused them to lose the election to Trump.
In reality, if Kennedy is not the Democratic Party nominee, and the economy and war problems continue to worsen, it is almost certain that Trump will win the 2024 election. Kennedy should not give the DNC the excuse that their loss was somehow his fault.
Instead, he should continue to speak out for the need to Restore Fair Elections while not endorsing any candidate unless they support his call for Fair Elections. Once Trump defeats Biden, there will be an opportunity for Kennedy to fill the leadership void at the top of the Democratic Party by starting his 2028 run in January 2025.
The Independent Voter “Things are Different this time” Problem
While over 40% of people are currently independent, and have been for some time, it has not affected the Presidential vote in any recent election. In the 2020 election, the Libertarian and Green parties both got less than one percent of the vote. It is understandable that most Kennedy supporters hate the Democratic Party for the way they have treated Kennedy. However, were Kennedy to switch to Independent, it would destroy his chances not only of winning in 2024 – but also of winning in 2028. There is another much more likely option for him to win. Stay in the Democratic Party and challenge their unconstitutional rules in federal court!
Getting on the ballot is only the first step in winning a majority in any state
If a former President such as Teddy Roosevelt was not able to get more than a handful of states, it is simply not possible that Kennedy could win against the Democratic and Republican party machines. What is really needed is to build an actual political movement in every state in order to win in that state. This simply is not possible in just a few months.
Using the Courts and taking back the Democratic Party from the bottom up
If Kennedy does not win enough delegates to get the 2024 Nomination, Kennedy’s most honest path to victory is to get the courts to force the DNC to revise their policies to comply with the US Constitution – and then at the same time wage a Bottom Up campaign in every precinct and legislative district to take back control of the Democratic Party from the bottom up in time for the 2028 election. If Kennedy does not run as an Independent or Third Party candidate in 2024, he will be able to avoid the Spoiler Label. Instead, he can offer himself as the Savior of the Democratic Party and the best option to win the Presidency for the Democratic Party in 2028.
The only way to prove the DNC is lying about Georgia is for Kennedy to keep running as a Democrat
On September 14, 2023, Kennedy tweeted that he had Kucinich have been reassured that the votes in Georgia Primary would count:
“While we were relieved to learn that it appears the voters of Georgia will have their votes counted, it doesn’t change the underlying truth. Three days after President Biden announced his re-election, the supposedly impartial DNC chair endorsed Mr. Biden and began expenditures on behalf of the Biden campaign. The DNC has refused to sponsor debates, relying on a made-up precedent that ignores the fact that there has not been a significant primary challenge to an incumbent in more than 40 years. The DNC has also proceeded to disenfranchise the voters of New Hampshire and Iowa. It is irrefutable that the DNC IS the Biden campaign and the Biden campaign IS the DNC. All rule interpretations must be seen through that lens. The Biden campaign is setting the rules and can move the goalposts at will. We are simply stating the obvious and its implications for the primaries. We move forward, having proved our point… Our understanding that Georgia’s voters would not be counted came from a Georgia state party document upon which we relied. We sent a letter raising this issue and asking for clarification. The DNC never replied. Apparently, the DNC told the Washington Post that this statement had a typo. The WaPo article was the first time we heard that explanation. The mistake was theirs, not ours.”
The Truth about Georgia
First, the “typo” the DNC told the Washington Post about was that the Georgia Delegate Selection Plan referred to DNC Rule 12.K when in fact the rule that gives them the right to kick anyone off the ballot who is not a “bona fide” Democrat is Rule 13.K. There is no Rule 12.K.
Nevertheless, Rule 13.K allows the DNC to remove anyone from the ballot who in their opinion has violated DNC Rules (by for example campaigning in New Hampshire).
Here is a direct quote from the 2024 Delegate Selection Plan Page 7:
“A presidential candidate gains access to the Georgia presidential preference primary ballot by requesting that the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia have the candidate’s name placed on the ballot. The Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Georgia will reach out to all the campaigns that meet the requirements of Rule 12.K and Article VI of the Call by November 1, 2023. The Executive Director will request from the campaign an official signed letter from the campaign (either scanned or mailed) that indicates that the candidate wishes to be placed on the Georgia ballot on January 5, 2024. The Executive Committee will meet on January 8, 2024 and will select names to be placed on the ballot and intends to include all widely recognized, legitimate candidates that meet the requirements of Rule 12.K and Article VI of the Call. The Executive Committee communicates its choices of names to be placed on the ballot to the Secretary of State by January 11, 2024… Only the names submitted by the Executive Committee appear on the ballot.
As I noted above, Rule 12.K is actually Rule 13.K which is on Page 15 of the DNC National Delegate Selection Rules. Rule 13.K states:
Based on the right of the Democratic Party to freely assemble and to determine the criteria for its candidates, it is determined that all candidates for the Democratic nomination for President or Vice President shall:
as determined by the National Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee, be a bona fide Democrat whose record of public service, accomplishment, public writings, and/or public statements affirmatively demonstrates that the candidate is faithful to the interests, welfare, and success of the Democratic Party of the United States at heart, who subscribes to the substance, intent, and principles of the Charter and the Bylaws of the Democratic Party, and who will participate in the Convention in good faith.
Now that we know that Rule 13.K allows the DNC Chair to decide who is a bona fide Democrat based on whether than person has dutifully complied with DNC Rules, let’s break down the meaning of
“The Executive Committee will meet on January 8, 2024 and will select names to be placed on the ballot and intends to include all widely recognized, legitimate candidates that meet the requirements of Rule 12.K.”
Here is the above rule in plain English:
The Georgia Democratic Party Executive Committee – which is the State Chair and Vice Chair – both of whom are paid directly by the DNC – will meet on January 8, 2024 and will do whatever Jaime Harrison and Joe Biden tell them to do.
The fact is that Biden does not want to even have a primary in Georgia. So he will tell them not to let Kennedy’s name appear on the ballot. The Georgia DNC will use the following two excuses to keep Kennedy off the ballot:
First Kennedy is not a legitimate candidate. The word “legitimate” means someone who has followed all of the rules. By campaigning in New Hampshire, Kennedy has failed to follow the rules.
Second, Kennedy has not compiled with Rule 12.K (actually 13.K) in that he is not a bona fide Democrat and has not fully complied with the Bylaws of the DNC Bylaws Committee – again because he has campaigned in New Hampshire.
If Kennedy does not get on the Georgia Ballot, then the DNC can use another rule called the Single Candidate Rule to cancel the Georgia Primary altogether. Alternately, they can run the primary with only Biden’s name on the ballot. Either way, the outcome will be pre-determined and the Democratic voters in Georgia will be disenfranchised just as surely as the voters in New Hampshire and Iowa. And it is not just Georgia. Several other states include this same or similar language (as I described in by DNC Election Rigging Part 3 Report).
The DNC can claim that this is not what these rules mean and that Kennedy will be allowed to be on the Georgia Ballot. But the only way to expose this lie is for Kennedy to run as a Democrat and ask to be on the Georgia Democratic Party Ballot – and to jump through all the hoops needed to be on the Democratic Party ballot in all 50 States.
Should Kennedy instead decide to run as an Independent or Third Party candidate, the DNC will be able to keep the consequences of their new draconian rules hidden from the American people.
On September 14, 2023, Kennedy said the ramifications of entering an unauthorized primary contest could be significant for his campaign: "The DNC has drafted rules that if candidates run in an unsanctioned primary in New Hampshire, the DNC chairman has powers to punish them for not following the official calendar. Regardless of margin of victory, such a candidate would receive zero delegates."
Kennedy’s statement on filing to run in New Hampshire is clearly true. However, the actual rule says that even if he campaigns in New Hampshire (which he has already done), the DNC chair can take his delegates in other states away.
Kennedy also stated: "Because no official will likely dare provoke the wrath of the DNC by pledging to me, only DNC-approved candidates will get any Pleos. Their net effect will be to impose the party insiders’ will on Democratic voters. Assuming no Pleo backs me, I would have to win more than 70% of regular delegates to beat Mr. Biden."
This statement is also true. But proving that it is true requires that Kennedy continue to run as a Democrat and then actually having his delegates taken away.
It is only after Georgia failed to put Kennedy on the ballot and or after the DNC failed to honor Kennedy’s delegates that Kennedy would be actually harmed and not just hypothetically harmed. Only then would Kennedy be able to challenge the DNC rules in state and or federal courts.
Continuing to remain in the Democratic Party race is Kennedy’s best chance and our best chance to break the strangle hold that corporate lobbyists now hold on the DNC.
There is a good chance that Kennedy can win on these issues. However, even if Kennedy does not win his court challenges to DNC rules, he will have exposed them in the public record.
He can then spend the next four years going directly to the American people with strong evidence of why we need a Constitutional Amendment to Restore Fair Elections – an Amendment which addresses and repeals and outlaws not only Citizens United – but all the DNC Election rigging tricks.
Kennedy’s Most Likely Path to the Presidency
Kennedy’s most likely path to the Presidency requires having the courage to not allow the DNC to boot him out of the Democratic Party.
Kennedy stated during his announcement speech that he goal was not merely to win the Presidency – but to also reform the Democratic Party of his father and his Uncle.
Actually restoring the Democratic Party may not be possible in a matter of months. Instead it will require dedicating the next four years to political organizing a Bottom Up Kennedy Democrats movement. And it will require a Restore Fair Elections Constitutional Amendment that Kennedy can offer the 90% of Americans who currently believe that our elections are rigged.
Therefore, in part 5 of our series of reports, we will outline the framework for a Restore Fair Elections Constitutional amendment.
In short, Kennedy’s path to the Presidency includes four steps:
#1 Remaining in the Democratic Party and continuing to run regardless of DNC efforts to drive him out and rig the election.
#2 Filing legal actions against the DNC for violating his rights and the rights of his supporters.
#3 Traveling around the US to explain the need for a Constitutional Amendment to Restore Fair Elections.
#4 Helping build local Kennedy Democrats groups in every state.
As always, I look forward to your questions and comments.
Regards,
David Spring M. Ed.
David Spring at Proton Mail dot com