Sanders faces former staffers about sexual harassment on 2016 campaign

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

Bernie Sanders arrived Wednesday for a meeting with a group of former staffers who've raised concerns about sexual harassment and violence on his 2016 campaign and urged the Vermont senator to make reforms if he runs for president again.

Sanders did not respond to a reporter's questions as he entered the meeting at a hotel in Washington through a private door. Later, his wife, Jane Sanders, arrived for the meeting.

The former aides sought a meeting with Sanders to “discuss the issue of sexual violence and harassment on the 2016 campaign, for the purpose of planning to mitigate the issue in the upcoming presidential cycle,” according to a copy of a letter first reported by POLITICO.

About 30 people were expected to attend the meeting. A campaign official said 2016 campaign manager Jeff Weaver, chief-of-staff Caryn Compton, deputy chief-of-staff Ari-Rabin Havt, top communication aide Arianna Jones, 2018 Senate reelection campaign manager Shannon Jackson, and campaign headquarters operations director Krista Harness were planning to go.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/16/sanders-staffers-sexual-harassment-1105182

[R B Garr]

1. "Sanders did not respond to a reporter's questions...."

No more of this. He won’t be allowed to pick and choose his subjects like before.

[shanny]

2. Politico. ugh

[NurseJackie]

7. Is there something specific about the facts that you disagree with? Are they lying?

[Apollyonus]

19. but ... but ... Politico

sounds just like .. but .... but .... Obama or but .... but .... Hillary

[mountain grammy]

10. Barely even news much less LBN.

[shanny]

15. +1

[Apollyonus]

21. So

A potential POTUS candidate's votes against an enemy who attacked us with cyber warfare in 2016 is not news?

mmmmmm...kay

[keithbvadu2]

3. You're sure it's not Sarah Sanders?

Would Sarah Huck sue Donald for sexual non-harassment?
.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. That's a shitty sentiment and a shitty cartoon.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

29. Not funny.

[Merlot]

4. What's up with all these headlines that imply Sanders was the harrasser?

[brooklynite]

5. What is your concern about the headline?

Was there Sexual Harassment on the 2016 campaign?

[shanny]

16. It's Politico.

They don't like progressives and especially not Sanders. And they love to stir shit.

[Apollyonus]

22. ummmm

Wouldn't you agree that there has to be shit first before one can stir it?

[shanny]

23. ummm....nope.

Some will make up shit and then stir ad nauseum.

[Apollyonus]

24. But ...

if you make-believe shit, it is not really shit isn't it?

[shanny]

25. run along and play

[Gothmog]

6. I saw that Sarah Slamen was evidently excluded from the meeting

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016224223
Sarah was one of the sanders workers cited in the NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign-sexism.html

Political campaigns can be grueling experiences for both the women and men involved. But some involved said they considered the treatment of women on the Sanders campaign especially upsetting because the senator positioned himself as a champion of progressive ideals and equality, according to interviews and messages shared on Facebook.

“I don’t think he has to be the vehicle or the platform for the movement that emerged from his campaign,” said Sarah Slamen, who worked for the campaign in Texas, was the state coordinator in Louisiana and helped build out Our Revolution, a progressive organization born from Mr. Sanders’s presidential campaign.

“Do you know how hard that is for me to say after working so hard for him?” she said.

Ms. Slamen quit the organization at the end of 2016 after she said she was berated by a male member of the Our Revolution steering committee for suggesting an organizing plan. In emails reviewed by The Times, she raised issues about sexist behavior with committee members who saw the incident and Our Revolution’s national board of directors. She said she received no reassurance that anything would change.

I gave Sarah a sanders sign that was used on the floor of the National Convention that I brought back from the convention.

[R B Garr]

9. So one of the accusers was barred from the meeting?

Why isn’t there transparency? We need to see the meeting details. No rigged systems.

[Gothmog]

14. I am friends with Sarah and she was pissed

[Cha]

11. Now why would Sarah Slamen be barred

from the meeting?

That doesn't seem very smart.

Thanks for this, Goth.

[Gothmog]

12. She had some harsh comments on facebook last night

[Cha]

13. That's why it wasn't smart

to bar her. Not a good look, BS.

[Gothmog]

20. I actually know Sarah

Sarah worked on a race that flipped a Texas state representative race from red to blue in the midterms. She is a good campaign field organizer and I am sorry that she was treated this way

[emulatorloo]

26. I read her story in Medium yesterday

The way she was treated is appalling. Posting a link for those who haven’t seen it.


A Future to Believe In
Sarah Slamen
Jan 14

https://medium.com/sarahslamen/a-future-to-believe-in-95208e8ce792

[Cha]

27. Good to hear about Sarah. Bad call

for the BS meeting to bar her.

[Gothmog]

31. Texas is a little bluer due to Sarah

We picked up 12 state house seats and two state senate seats

[Cha]

34. Here's to Sarah Slamen!

[Apollyonus]

18. wow .... just WOW n/t

[ehrnst]

35. Apparently, there are nearly two dozen, so there were PLENTY of others. (nt)

[Apollyonus]

17. A day late and a dollar short n/t

[Scruffy1]

28. Exactly.

He had his fve minutes of fame.

[brooklynite]

30. UPDATE: Sanders Meets With Former Staff Members, Seeking to Quell Anxiety Over Sexism

WASHINGTON — Senator Bernie Sanders met on Wednesday with former staff members who conveyed their dismay over the mistreatment of women during his 2016 campaign, in an effort to calm the unrest over sexism that is overshadowing his possible 2020 bid.

Mr. Sanders met with roughly two dozen former workers for about an hour in a conference room at a hotel near the Capitol. The meeting was convened in response to a recent letter sent by more than two dozen people who worked on Mr. Sanders’s 2016 campaign, asking to meet with the senator and his leadership team to discuss issues of harassment.

The senator did not make himself available for comment afterward, and some attendees said they preferred to keep the discussions private. One woman said she found the meeting exhausting but declined to elaborate.

Jenny Yang, a human resources consultant hired by the Sanders team as a facilitator for the meeting, said in a phone interview that “people were there to hear and listen to each other.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/us/politics/bernie-sanders-discrimination-sexism.html

[Gothmog]

32. Sanders spent less than an hour at this meeting according to CNN

Link to tweet

?s=20

[brooklynite]

33. "I'm very sorry and it won't happen again"?

I don't personally think that Sanders was responsible for a hostile atmosphere, but I also think he forces so much on his message that he ignores the management side of his campaign team.