During this week’s Democrat debate in Nevada, Sen. Elizabeth Warren unloaded on former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg for requiring women who had filed discrimination or sexual harrassment complaints to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), which barred them from discussing the cases.
It turns out that Bloomberg isn’t alone in insisting on confidentiality. The Nevada State Democratic Party is asking its caucus site leaders to sign NDAs that would bar them from speaking with the media. The NDAs read, in part: “With the attention focused on Nevada politics, it is possible that I will encounter reporters while working for or volunteering in an official capacity for the NDSP.”
The agreement continues, “If I am contacted by a reporter, I must immediately refer him or her to the Communications Director or Executive Director at the Las Vegas headquarters … THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS.
Seth Morrison, a caucus site leader, told CNN that when he refused to sign the NDA, officials offered him a lower-level position, so he quit.
“The wording of that agreement is very broad,” Morrison told CNN. “If I were to, quote, ‘disparage’ the party or talk to the media without their permission, they could sue me for everything I own.”
Molly Forgey, communications director for the NSDP insists that the agreements are optional.
Let’s be clear: these agreements are not required—however, asking volunteers who handle sensitive internal info to sign them is common practice and the state party did this in the 2018 cycle. https://t.co/toL2cTTswp
— Molly Forgey (@mbforgey) February 21, 2020
Morrison disagrees. “They’re lying,” he said.
To make matters worse, Morrison also called into question the “untested” Google Forms/iPad system being used to tally the votes:
“We're counting on this untested tool that we haven't been trained on,” Seth Morrison, a Nevada caucuses site leader, says as early voting starts today.
He slams the caucus process as “horrendous," saying “both parties need to really eliminate it.” https://t.co/DV1xcVoFHD pic.twitter.com/Dz2rqt5woX
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) February 15, 2020
As you might expect, the Bernie Bros have their knickers in a twist about the NDAs, saying it gives credence to their claims that the fix is in:
This is outrageous. The Democrats are clearly crooked cheaters. Why else would they require people to sign NDA’s for LIFE in order to be a caucus leader in Nevada?! https://t.co/7N9NojYCdP
— LadyReverb #NeverBidenNeverTrump🌹🔥🏴 (@LadyReverbs) February 22, 2020
Sanders has a pretty big lead in Nevada right now so if he loses or he gets first by a small margin we’ll know exactly what’s going on. Making people sign those NDA’s doesn’t give me a lot of confidence that they’ll be fair to Bernie. pic.twitter.com/Pl4VPEUmu0
— Koba ☭ 👹🐝🇲🇽 (@Elijah_X_) February 21, 2020
I'm very concerned @DNC is going to rig this primary against Sanders, the timing of this Russian leak,,NDA agreements for the Nevada caucus…this is very serious #NevadaCaucuses stuff…https://t.co/h9OScRRAxU
— Tammi (@Mari_Contrary) February 22, 2020
How the DNC is trying to stop Bernie in Nevada:
-Culinary Union controversy
-Demonization of his base with racist and sexist nametag "Bernie Bro"
-Russian interference information released the day before the Caucus
-Making volunteers sign NDA's— Nikola (@niktaylorde) February 22, 2020
Nevada democratic party is requiring volunteers to sign NDA's because they revealed all the rigging against Bernie Sanders. If you know anyone in Nevada, ask them to video record everything they can while they are at the caucuses. We cannot let them steal this away from our guy.
— Sport (@Sport45313864) February 22, 2020
There are a lot more where those came from. No word on whether the Sanders campaign will raise the issue with the DSPN, nor have we heard from Liz “NDAs Evil” Warren.
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