A new Sludge report claims that two Michael Bloomberg surrogates have positions on the Democratic National Committee’s Rules Committee and the Standing Rules and Bylaws Committee. The news comes not long after the DNC faced accusations of rigging the primary process against Bernie Sanders from the presidential candidate’s allies.
The publication notes that such appointments could help Bloomberg if nominating rules are re-opened for amendment before the July Democratic National Convention. Such a move could be possible, as Politico reports that DNC members have expressed concern about Sanders’ polling support and floated the idea of rolling back power limitations that were placed on superdelegates after the 2016 election.
Specifically, such DNC members reportedly want to allow superdelegates to vote on the first ballot of the DNC convention to give more power to members of the DNC and Congress, as well as other top party officials. As of now, they must wait for the second ballot to exert their influence.
As for Bloomberg’s surrogates, Michael Nutter, the former Mayor of Philadelphia, is a member of the Standing Rules and Bylaws Committee and was appointed as the campaign’s national political chair in December 2019. A statement from the Bloomberg campaign that month claimed that Nutter will “advise the campaign on policy development and strategy” and serve as a national campaign surrogate.
The other surrogate, Alexandra Rooker, is a superdelegate from California and a member of the Rules Committee. She was reportedly hired as a senior Bloomberg campaign adviser in January and is the vice-chair of the California Democratic Party.
The DNC drastically changed its debate requirement rules to ensure the inclusion of Mike Bloomberg, mostly because he’s a billionaire.
Right before the change, he donated $325,000+ to the Democratic national committee.
Quid pro quo? pic.twitter.com/IOs36uI2c8
— Mike Coudrey (@MichaelCoudrey) February 1, 2020
Sanders’ speechwriter, David Sirota , previously accused Bloomberg of entering the Democratic primary for the sole purpose of taking down the Vermont Senator.
“Bloomberg is primarily motivated by a desire to stop Bernie and his working-class movement,” he wrote in his Bern Notice newsletter, noting that Bloomberg entered the race as Sanders began to rise.
“Bloomberg began floating the idea of a presidential bid in 2016, just as Bernie was beginning to gain momentum in that race. At the time, Bloomberg disparaged Bernie and his campaign’s challenge to Wall Street.”
Sirota also said that Bloomberg was pushed to run for president by billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who he called the 78-year-old politician’s “nemesis.”
The full results of the Iowa caucuses have yet to be released, although the results released thus far show Sanders and Pete Buttigieg neck-and-neck. The late release of the results and lack of transparency from the Iowa Democratic Party has pushed many, such as progressive commentator Krystal Ball , to claim the process is rigged.
