The campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) officially served the Democratic National Committee on Thursday with a lawsuit over the decision to suspend the campaign’s access to voter data after a staffer viewed confidential information back in December.
A source told The Hill the move was “very procedural” as Thursday was the deadline to file paperwork given to the campaign by a federal judge.
The DNC temporarily revoked the campaign’s access in mid-December to all voter information after a staffer inappropriately accessed voter data compiled by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said the DNC was holding the data “hostage.” Access was eventually restored and one Sanders staffer was fired.
The court filing on Thursday signaled the desire for an amicable resolution.
The filing from the Sanders campaign said both sides “continue to engage in cooperative discussions in their efforts to resolve the pending litigation,” according to New York magazine.
Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth. How dare you, sir?
Meh. Deadlines are deadlines. Can’t resolve a dispute if you let it resolve itself by failing to preserve the claim.
So let’s see: Sanders campaign was the one who “inappropriately” accessed the confidential data and had a staffer fired as a result yet is the one filing a lawsuit. And this is supposed to “signal the desire for an amicable resolution”? No, this sort of action is precisely what Trump does…lawsuits. Wow, this might be a new low for Sanders after his reprehensible and directly insulting to the majority of voters “You are a progressive or you are not!”.
DNC spokesman Mark Paustenbach said that "both sides are continuing to work amicably to resolve all legal issues. and look forward to resolving this matter.”
Sanders campaign was given a deadline of 17 March to serve the DNC with papers by the court. This is a procedural step - not red hot breaking news.
Going ahead with legal action about this is a very poor decision, one that makes me question the judgment of both Sanders and the people around him.
To keep the Government out of the hands of the RWNJ’s, the party is going to need to be united. Standard primary election battle stuff is fine, and healthy. But this kind of “inside baseball” dispute is out of place. If Sanders has a beef with the DNC, the solution is for him to get the nomination, win the White House, and do his own housecleaning at the DNC. Filing a lawsuit over it is manifestly not the solution.
Yeah, I know this is just a procedural deadline. But they should have dropped the entire matter by now, and moved on.