Teachers Union Moves to Block Obama Union from Voting

LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s state teachers union and six Las Vegas area residents filed a lawsuit late Friday that could make it harder for many members of the state’s huge hotel workers union to vote in the hotly contested Jan. 19 Democratic caucus in Nevada.

The 13-page lawsuit in federal district court here comes two days after the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada endorsed Senator Barack Obama, a blow to Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Obama addressed the Culinary Union at their hall earlier Friday.

The lawsuit argues that the Nevada Democratic Party’s decision, decided late last year, to create at-large precincts inside nine Las Vegas resorts on caucus day violates the state’s election laws and creates a system in which voters at the at-large precincts can elect more delegates than voters at other precincts. The lawsuit employs a complex mathematical formula to show that voters at the other 1,754 precincts would have less influence with their votes.

The at-large precincts are being established because thousands of hotel workers cannot leave work to participate in the midday caucuses in their home precincts. The Nevada State Education Association has said it would not endorse any Democrat, but some of its top officials have endorsed Mrs. Clinton. The association’s deputy executive director, Debbie Cahill, for instance, was a founding member of Senator Clinton’s Nevada Women’s Leadership Council.

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“This could shut down those precincts in the casinos and keep culinary members from voting,” said Jon Ralston, a political pundit with The Las Vegas Sun, who broke the story on his blog. Mr. Ralston said it is unclear whether there are ties between the lawsuit and the Clinton campaign but, he predicted, “Even if they’re Hillary supporters, the campaign’s going to say they had nothing to do with it.It is unclear when the court will hear the matter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/us/politics/12nevada.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

How much shit can one campaign get away with.

About a third as much as three.

The ox-goring factor is still the determining issue.

--p!

Timing of this suit is strangely suspicious.

I doubt the courts will touch it.

not vote for her, I'll actively campaign against her.

Are they for or against it?

I had always thought that voter suppression was a Republican thing.

and has nothing to do with the campaign, and they can't talk to this group because that would, you know, be against the rules.

And the beat goes on.

I always thought we were better than they were. If Clinton wins Dems are going to be just as AWFUL and DIRTY as Repubs.

Damnit.

Since that's how long the caucus setup has been planned, up to even a few days before the endorsement, I might not think this is a stinky pail of shit. Peee-yewwww.

The Clintons just keep getting lower and lower.

Union Files Suit Over Casino Caucuses

By Paul Kane
LAS VEGAS - A teachers' union filed federal suit late yesterday trying to shut down nine Democratic caucus sites to be held next Saturday in casino halls along Las Vegas's famed "Strip", arguing that those sites give unfair advantage to union workers who are backing Sen. Barack Obama.

The suit was widely expected by state party officials as well as Obama's campaign and the powerful Culinary Workers Union 226, which earlier this week endorsed the Illinois senator in advance of the Jan. 19 Nevada caucus. That endorsement had been eagerly sought by Obama as well as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.), and by yesterday afternoon culinary union leaders told the Washington Post they expected an outside group with ties to Clinton to file a motion seeking to quash the casino caucuses.

-snip-

The state party quickly dismissed the lawsuit. Going back to last spring, every presidential campaign was involved in setting up the unusual casino caucus sites while state party officials and the Democratic National Committee ironed out the details. "This is a fair, legal and proper way to choose delegates under established law and legal precedent that has been reviewed by attorneys....The time for comment or complaint has passed," the party said in a statement.

The union was more blunt, contending the arguments are only a political effort to muddy the waters in case Clinton loses. "It's strange is coming after our endorsement," said D. Taylor, the secretary-treasurer of the local labor group, told the Washington Post in an interview last night after an Obama rally in his union hall.

-snip-

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/12/post_271.html

Someone wake me up when this is over.

Weird, huh...

7/16/2007 - Hillary Clinton today received the endorsement of a group of Nevada officials known for their leadership in education -- longtime Clark County School District official and current State Senator Joyce Woodhouse, Nevada System of Higher Education Regents Cedric Crear and Thalia Dondero, and Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) Deputy Executive Director Debbie Cahill.

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48727260_hillary_clinton_hillary_clinton_leaders_education_endorse_clinton_president