HOW THE DNC RIGGED WEST VIRGINIA
“How the state that loved Bernie the most went to Hillary Clinton, despite Bernie Sanders winning in every county in a landslide victory”
Bernie Sanders won the state of West Virginia in the Primary election. I recently interviewed one Bernie Sanders Delegate from the WV Delegation:
BC DeGraff: “ Did you walk out?”
Kachina Mooney: “Yes, I am apart of the core group The Coalition of 57 (now The Coalition) and we were the group who organized the walk out. Our state chair for WV actually lied on national TV about our vote, several of our super delegates were not present at convention. This will be on a local, state, and national level including all issues facing the 99%.”
BC DeGraff: “ Can you tell me about The Coalition?”
Kachina Mooney: “Sure, we were founded as Bernie delegates from all 57 states and territories. We are currently working on building a multilevel education/communication platform for progressives looking to change the narrative of the current political climate. This will be on a local, state, and national level including all issues facing the 99%”
BC DeGraff: “In the General Election, did you vote Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump?”
Kachina Mooney: “I did not, but according to the democrats, my state doesn’t matter. But to be clear, I didn’t vote for Donald either — I voted my conscience and my morals. That’s not reflective of The Coalition as many of our core group did vote for Hillary”
BC DeGraff: “I voted for Jill Stein. I’m breaking my rules not to get personal, but the Bernie Sanders Delegates that left the party are my heroes. Do you still support Bernie Sanders and will you in 2020 when he officially announces his candidacy?”
Kachina Mooney: “ Bernie is the one of the only people I still trust out of this entire mess. I will support him 100%. 150%. I also voted for Jill. And as a side note, WV is one of the only states in the US with a viable 3rd party. The Mountain Party is our “Green Party” and we did so well in the election last year that we have ballot access + debate access.”
West Virginia was another state like Michigan, Colorado, Indiana and Montana that went to Hillary Clinton at the convention despite the majority of the people in the states who wanted Bernie Sanders and voted Bernie Sanders. I would interview a volunteer for Bernie Sanders and she would give me a very deep and moving experience as well as the truth of our Democracy:
BC DeGraff: “What was a your experience when you arrived in Philly?”
Alissa Ponzurick:”We arrived to our dorm accommodations at Rutgers in Camden, NJ. Our room was nice, and there were four of us total. It was more like an apartment. The vibe was so infectious- it felt like we were all there because we’d ‘woken up’ and wanted to make the world a better place. And here, in this big hodgepodge of people, all ages and colors, from everywhere- there was just so much hope and Positivity. When we arrived at Bernie’s speech at the convention center, it was as if everything had changed overnight. We had our training the day prior, and the plan was to hold two seminars in rooms A&B, and then to man the doors, locate and situate press, and the room would be combined into one larger space, and Bernie would be speaking”
BC DeGraff: “When you left the convention, what was the message you left with?”
Alissa Ponzurick: “Democracy isn’t real. It’s a smokescreen from the ruling class. It gives us the illusion of choice. However, the moment Bernie preserved the roll and did not request contention, the world as I’d known it, ceased to exist.”
BC DeGraff: “Did you watch your state go to Hillary right at the convention? If so, what were your thoughts? How did you feel?”
Alissa Ponzurick: “I did, and I’ll never forget it. It was one of the most defining moments of my life. I knew, exactly at that time, that filling stadiums, selling out concert halls, blatant winning of states (WV was 55/55 counties for Bernie in the primary), none of it mattered. All the rules we’d been living by, the media blackout, it was so definite in that moment. It was seeing WV super delegates, whom were NOT in attendance, cast a vote magically to flip our state to Hillary. It was realizing that even though WE TOOK OUR STATE 100%, we still lost.”
BC DeGraff: “ Who did you vote for in 2016?”
Alissa Ponzurick: “Jill Stein, I don’t agree with her on everything, but I could not vote for either candidate from the major parties. My moral compass would not allow for that. Back to arriving at the Convention Center…
the room was already opened up. There was an ‘audience’ of chairs. We were confused as to whether the workshop seminars were still being held. I worked the center doors because I’m loud. Press that was previously not given access were eventually given access. We checked credentials, and that was the speech from Bernie where Jane famously whispered “they’re still with you”. The entire room was adorned in robin-hood hats. And honestly, that was the last of my hopeful, ignorant perspective on politics. Later that day, our world as we knew it would never be the same. And we haven’t stopped working to change things since then”
BC DeGraff: “Do you feel that the DNC is salvageable?”
Alissa Ponzurick: “I’m not sure. If you had asked me two weeks ago, prior to the purge of Bernie stalwarts, I’d say yes. If Bernie founded his own party for 2020, or runs as an Independent, I still believe that he’s a viable winner. I’d say the DNC needs Bernie more than Bernie needs the DNC.”
David Bowen, Elaine Harris and Chris Regan would all cast their Superdelegate votes for Bernie Sanders, then have them stripped from them and replaced with 2 who cast their votes for Hillary Clinton like the The rest of the Super Delegates would against the will of the voters., according to Bernie Delegate Selina Vickers. Another West Virginia Delegate I would interview would have a message about party reform.
BC DeGraff: “How long have you supported Bernie Sanders?”
Selina Vickers: May 2015. Didn’t even know who he was until I saw a meme-quote on Facebook. Was impressed with whoever this Bernie Sanders person was — looked him up — watched YouTube videos of him in senate and house hearings — then joined the political revolution.
BC DeGraff: “What was your overall impression of the DNC?”
Selina Vickers: “Washington insiders running everything and the vast majority of the dnc follow. The up-risers get shut down quickly. They are going to be playing identity politics primarily.”
BC DeGraff: “What was the message you left the convention with?”
Selina Vickers: “Interesting question. What they said they were going to do — “every zip code counts” and “Unity” sounded great. What their actions said — stacking the deck with insiders, sent a different message. I left thinking that we need to #BecomeTheDNC We have to take over our state and national Dem parties.”
BC DeGraff: “After the recent Donna Brazile revelations that the event was paid for by the Hillary Clinton Campaign, are you still willing to remain a Democrat despite Hillary Clinton taking control of the party financially?”
Selina Vickers: “Am I willing to remain a Dem after all this? Why should I leave? I haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t get drunk with power and throw up on the couch at the party and ruin things for everybody. THEY need to leave — and they won’t go willingly. We have to replace them. And, its hard because they DO have the power. But, what else can we do? I don’t understand the DemExit strategy. Once you exit you have NO say in what goes on. The 2 party system is too pervasive and corrupt to let both continue with out any checks. I’m all about staying, challenging, pushing, and replacing the corrupt people. AND, what I have found both in the state and national level is that most people are ready for change. There are a few people that keep things blocked at the top. The people are ready to move and its bottlenecked at top.”
BC DeGraff: “What moment stood out the strongest in your experience at the convention?”
Selina Vickers: “Can I say 2?”
BC DeGraff: “Yes”
Selina Vickers: “There are many, but the 2 most significant that stand in my mind are 1. The Tuesday morning of the convention (that’s the day the vote is given). You vote in the morning delegation meeting. We were scolded for booing the night before, we were told that we MUST be in the WV delegation area for our vote to count. If we aren’t there, our vote will not be counted. I asked to speak before we voted. I went over the primary numbers in Wv (See graphic). I told them that if HRC was the nominee, we would lose everything in Wv — which we did — because we couldn’t get the vote out for HRC, but everyone for Trump would show up and vote R down ballot. We talked about the Wikileaks that had just come out and how now we knew the primary had been rigged. We told them about the polling showing Bernie could beat Trump and HRC might not. They treated us like we were stupid. Like they knew everything. We knew nothing. Not everyone. But, several. Some were sympathetic in that room. I remember that. I remember who they were. The chair thought it was outlandish to suggest that HRC might not win the general. It was inevitable. (I think Shane has recording of this meeting) 2. That night, the vote. They were going through the states. They got to around Louisiana and I noticed that 2 of the supers weren’t there — Sen Manchin and Gov Tomblin. I went to Belinda Biafore (WV chair) and told her that they weren’t there and that the vote count should change. She said no. I reminded her what she had told us that morning about needing to be present and she ignored me. Other people were calling for a roll call. She ignored us. She gave the vote. I called the parliamentarian back home and he told me what motion to make to challenge and I did. She ignored that. She said that Manchin had a proxy — Supers aren’t allowed to have proxies and she said Tomblin was there. He was — but not in the WV delegation area. She never picked up the phone to register our motions, which was the process. The lies were what got me the most, I think. Now, knowing we were right and that if maybe we had done something more, maybe we could have Bernie now. I can’t change that. What I/we can do is make sure that the next time a Bernie comes around, there is a fair process in place. We are getting rid of our chair as soon as we can. We are going to state and national meetings and shining a spotlight on unfair and unethical activities. I did that today, btw. Wv State Exec meeting held without following their bylaws to have public meetings announced. They didn’t make any public announcement. I just happened to learn about the meeting and 2 Berners showed up. Called that out — politely. Next time they will probably make a public announcement.”
Selina Vickers would leave me with a startling revelation about the two Super Delegates who were replaced in favor of Hillary Clinton:
“There were 2 supers that pledged to Bernie in the primary, but one (Chris Regan) was ousted. And the other was supposed to vote for Bernie because she was a union rep and her union supported Bernie. The WVDP got rid of Chris Regan at the state convention and replaced him with William Laird. Laird and Elaine Harris both voted for HRC.” -Selina Vickers
Despite the state being made up of voters who wanted Bernie Sanders, not Hillary Clinton, yet all the Super Delegates went to Hillary Clinton. This was the most rigged state in the 2016 election and it shows. Bernie Sanders won the entire states and lost it at the convention to Super Delegates. Against the will of the American voters.
