Nevada Politics: Obama v. Clinton? Culinary Workers v. Teachers?

Voting on the Strip a no-no, suit says

Not allowing nine polling sites would hurt Obama, help Clinton
By David McGrath Schwartz

Sat, Jan 12, 2008 (2 a.m.)

The teachers union has drawn knives on the Culinary Workers, deepening the potential political rifts over Nevada’s Jan. 19 Democratic caucus.

A lawsuit filed late Friday in federal court seeks to stop the Democratic Party from holding caucus meetings at nine Strip hotels, which would diminish the influence of casino workers and hamper Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign.

The complaint, with the state teachers union and some party activists as plaintiffs, came as Obama accepted the endorsement of the Culinary Union. The timing seemed designed to cloud the good buzz from his campaign, which could only help Sen. Hillary Clinton’s efforts in the state.

The lawsuit claims that those voting in at-large precincts being held on the Strip would have too much weight compared with those voting at their polling places, violating the equal protection law of the U.S. Constitution. It also claims the at-large precincts violate state statute in the way they were drawn.

State Democratic Party officials disputed the lawsuit’s contentions.

“This has been a fully transparent process,” party spokeswoman Kirsten Searer said. “These rules have been approved by the Democratic National Committee and the campaigns have been fully informed throughout this process, which started in May.”

The party decided to set up polling places at the nine casinos to accommodate those working on the Strip.

But Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, noted that janitors who have to open schools in which caucus meetings take place will be unable to participate if that is not their polling place.

~snip~

Teachers Sue to Block Hotel Workers’ Union Vote in Nevada Caucus
By STEVE FRIESS
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.

~snip~

... The teachers union say many of their members will be unable to vote because at caucus time, they are required to assist with caucuses being held at the schools they work at, even if they live in different precincts, which will prevent them from voting at their own caucuses.

By the numbers (from the lawsuit) :

The new plan drawn up by the Democratic party calls for 1,754 caucuses at which 10,446 delegates will be chosen. 7,224 of them will be from Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. Clark County has more than 4,000 registered Democrats.

Unlike primaries in which people can vote all day, caucuses in Nevada, as in Iowa and elsewhere, require voters to show up at a specified time. To enable those voters who work at the scheduled caucus time, the party created the new precincts using a formula of districts with more than 4,000 shift workers who could not leave work to vote ....rather than a system based on residency.

The new at-large precincts are all inside Las Vegas Strip hotels. Workers attending the caucuses inside the hotel will have to provide identification showing them to be a shift worker and sign a declaration stating they can't attend their "home" caucus because of their work schedule.

The teachers, and other workers who can't attend caucuses because of work, are not being provided special caucuses to work at and thus they won't be able to vote.

The lawsuit then analyzes the effect of the new "at large" caucus votes and alleges that the plan gives the hotel workers a disproportionately large number of delegates. Go read the lawsuit, as to the numbers, but essentially it concludes the new system will create an additional 720 delegates for Clark County, which in turn will dilute the value of a delegate assignment and the voice of the other Clark County caucus participants.

The lawsuit also says the same procedure will carry through to the state convention and the selection of national delegates and thus diminish the impact of the votes of all Democrats in Nevada, not just those in Clark County. ...

Sen. Reid a no comment on caucus lawsuit

Sen. Harry Reid declined to comment on a lawsuit brought to eliminate the at-large caucus sites that are designed to allow Strip casino workers to attend the caucus on Jan. 19.

~snip~

His refusal to support the state party, which approved the concept of the at-large plan in March before submitting to the Democratic National Committee for its approval in August, is certainly surprising.

Sun columnist Jon Ralston has been reporting this story all day and revealing new stuff to his e-mail newsletter subscribers.

For instance, some plaintiffs of the lawsuit were present at the meeting when the plan was agreed to. It passed unanimously. Ralston also reports that AFSCME may join the lawsuit. AFSCME has endorsed Clinton.

See tomorrow's Sun, and we'll blog more of Ralston's reporting later.