Remember folks....it isn't illegal to favor a candidate like some folks at the DNC did

[Cali_Democrat]

However, it is illegal to hack into the DNC servers and disclose thousands of emails.

[Dawgs]

1. You're right. I'm no longer voting for Julian Assange. nt

[Jack Bone]

4. hahahaha!

[bigwillq]

11. Bwah

[eastwestdem]

2. Exactly!!!

And anyone who thought that a hard-fought primary would not have people on one side or the other is just fooling themselves. I bet if you looked at RNC or DNC emails or internal notes from ANY previous election, you would find the same or worse. The people who are worked up are just looking for something to blame for their candidate's poor showing.

[Scuba]

3. I'm not so sure. Donors were told the DNC was impartial. Could be construed as fraud.

[Cali_Democrat]

5. Can you please reference the relevant statute? Which law was broken?

What law did the DNC members violate?

There are a number of laws I can point to which indicate that hacking is illegal:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/computer_and_internet_fraud

[Scuba]

8. Nope, I'm no attorney and could be wrong. But had I donated to the DNC I'd feel defrauded right now.

Fortunately, I've been on to them for a while and only donate directly to candidates.

[Cali_Democrat]

9. Just because you feel defrauded, it doesn't mean a law was broken.

Sorry.

[Scuba]

14. Nope. Remains to be seen if any donors will file suit.

[Cali_Democrat]

16. Lawsuits fail when no laws are broken.

Sorry.

[FBaggins]

20. Fraud would indeed be a crime

I don't know that it's true or that it can be demonstrated in a court... but if the DNC bylaws/charter require impartiality and they were shown to have not been impartial (which is not the same thing as people on the internet claiming that they weren't impartial), then people who donated money could certainly sue for fraud. Rank and file Democrats could also sue for negligence and/or violation of their fiduciary duties.

[Dawgs]

6. ...

[Renaissance Man]

7. So, now we're attempting to completely ignore our own bylaws?

That's where we are? We went to ignore and violate our own bylaws. We're comfortable with Article 5, Section 4 of the Charter and Bylaws of the Democratic National Committee being violated. As long as it's not in the criminal code in federal or state law, that's just A-OK?

Article 5, Section 4 of the Charter and Bylaws of the Democratic National Committee

"In the conduct and management of the affairs and procedures of the Democratic National Committee, particularly as they apply to the preparation and conduct of the Presidential nomination process, the Chairperson shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness as between the Presidential candidates and campaigns. The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process."

Read the bylaw.

The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers AND staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality.

Read Brad Marshall's e-mail to other DNC staffers about his idea on using atheist and jew-baiting back to his "peeps" in KY and West Virginia during the primary. Is that where we are? As long as he didn't violate state or federal criminal law in suggesting jew-baiting in hurting Sanders in KY and W VA during the primary, it's A-OK? The ethical goalpost moving about Democrats employed by the Democratic National Committee engaging in this behavior is, while disappointing, not surprising.

It matters not that the suggestions were not used. It matters that those suggestions were even transmitted from personal thoughts to official DNC communications sent from one staff member to another, and it doesn't help that she

- made repeat appearances on mainstream press publicly bashing the Sanders campaign about their supporters throwing chairs at the Nevada DNC convention (when it didn't happen); and
- was Hillary Clinton's campaign manager in the 2008 primaries.

How do we look as Democrats when our own staffers are atheist and jew-baiting through e-mail suggesting that it could be used against one of our primary contenders when ... wait for it ... the primaries were still happening?

That's what you're missing. The way in which that bylaw is written, the buck stops with the DNC Chair. Granted, DWS could not have known the content of every e-mail sent by every DNC staffer to any other DNC staffer, but from the moment those ideas were transmitted with official DNC e-mail addresses by DNC staff members, that's the point where DWS became responsible.

So, yeah. It's not a violation of any state or federal criminal code. It's just a violation of our own rules under which we operate as a party.

[vdogg]

13. Nope

Just trying not to re fight the primary when it is now the general election (hint) and we have a Trump to beat. I have my own problems with DWS beyond what was leaked and I'm glad she's gone. That said, we really need to move past this and stop Trump. It seems Bernie supporters would rather watch the world burn down than see Hillary elected. With crap like this, they may get their wish...

[David__77]

10. I'll evaluate information regardless of how it is procured.

I don't consider it unethical to do so.

Any violations of law can be handled by the relevant authorities.

I don't consider the matter of the content of any DNC staff email to be a legal matter. I personally consider that some of them reflect a low level of professionalism.

[Jarqui]

12. I'm not so sure

They were raising money for the DNC under false pretenses claiming they were not biased - when in fact, they went against their own charter and were ... which is fraud if you want to get technical about it.

More troubling is that it puts the primary result into some question. How legitimate is Hillary's primary victory? Obviously, she didn't win it "fair and square". How much did Clinton owning the referee get her? We'll probably never know for sure.

At this stage, they'll pin as much as they can on the Russians and DWS and try to move on. If that's what it takes to beat Trump, I suppose we'll have to hold our noses and claim our dishonest candidate is better than their dishonest candidate. That's sadly what it's coming down to.

After more than 50 years of supporting Democrats, I've never been placed in such a rotten position. With Bernie & Obama going along with it, and the delusional, racist Trump lurking, what else can one do?

It smells so bad that it takes my breath away.

[Orsino]

15. "Not illegal" is a shitty campaign slogan...

...but you are certainly correct.

[HerbChestnut]

17. Clinton/Kaine 2016: Not Technically Illegal

[JoePhilly]

19. Which DNC emails did Clinton/Kaine send??

Oh right, none.

Just more manufactured outrage.

[heresAthingdotcom]

18. Not a matter of illegality but of impartiality....of the DNC optics are bad....

when you are young you haven't made many mistakes...you simply aren't old enough to do so but when you reach my age (66) you will look back and say "I wish i hadn't done that..."

and someday the Bernie Supporters who vote for someone other than Hillary and get Trump elected may look back and say "I wish I hadn't done that..."