2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumFour Questions Bernie Sanders Needs to Answer
Were glad that the Sanders campaign and DNC reached an agreement last night and that the Sanders campaign has agreed to an independent audit of the data breach.
This saga - and having our campaigns hard work violated by the Sanders campaign - has been disturbing to our campaign and the volunteers who worked hard to build a strong organization. But it has also been a distraction from the issues that the American people care about. We think those issues should be the focus of the debate tonight: issues like raising wages, access to healthcare, and keeping America safe. However, given news that Senator Sanders and his team apparently want to make this topic the centerpiece of their debate strategy, here are some questions that should be on the table.
1: Why'd your campaign say you didn't store anything?
The Sanders campaign was able to access (and save) 24 different lists of proprietary Clinton campaign information, as seen in their NGPVAN activity logs. Here, for example, is a Sanders staffer searching for and saving a list of voters that the Clinton campaign identified as persuadable in Iowa.
Lets be clear about how the VAN system works: when you look at the log, saving means an attempt to store the data to your own accountand there are reports that there were preliminary attempts to export the data into excel sheets. They knew what they were doing. Which brings me to my next point.
2: Why'd your campaign claim it was an accident?
In an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, Tad Devine claimed this was all a mistake. A mistake?
NGPVANs audit found that Sanders staffers conducted 25 targeted searches of Clinton campaign data, just like the example above. Let me reiterate what this being a mistake would mean. Take a look at this pull out from the audit activity logs.
For this to be a mistake, the Sanders campaign would have had to accidentally
Searched for the voters we've identified as being unlikely to support Hillary Clinton in the South Carolina primarySaved that list into their own account folderSearched for the voters we've identified as supporters who are very likely to turn out to vote in the South Carolina primarySaved that list into their own account folderSearched for the voters we've identified as supporters who are unlikely to turn out to vote in the South Carolina primary
This is just a sample. They pulled 21 more lists. That seems hardly accidental to me.
3: Why did the Sanders campaign claim that only one staffer was involved in accessing Clinton campaign data?
Contrary to their claims, there werefour staffers involved. In fact, from the audit logs provided by NGPVAN, the staffer they fired wasnt even the person involved in accessing the most data.
4. Why did your campaign claim that the "one staffer" was junior level?
In initial reports, the Sanders campaign claimed that the single staffer involved in accessing Clinton campaign data was at the junior level. Tad Devine even went so far as to say that hed never met the guy.
Josh Uretsky, the staffer who was fired, was the campaigns most senior data strategist.
From his Linkedin page:
Our data director is involved in our strategic, day-to-day decision making. Thats a pretty broad interpretation of junior.
In conclusion...
To most voters, this will all seem pretty arcane. They care about raising wages for their family. They care about security for their family. They care about whos going to keep them safe. They certainly dont spend much time thinking about campaign data theft.
With that said, if Senator Sanders intends to make his campaigns theft of our data a rallying point, he should have to answer these questions. His campaign took advantage of a security flaw to access and retain proprietary Clinton campaign information. We dont know if they still have it. Those are all facts. No amount of misdirection changes those facts.
We look forward to tonights debate.
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This link includes screenshots.
link: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/statements/2015/12/19/four-questions-bernie-sanders-needs-to-answer/
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)SunSeeker
(51,556 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)If he does not answer these basis questions it will turn to conspiracy on part of his campaign. All the attempts to turn the blame to DWS and the DNC is not working, just more lies and the integrity of his staff is going down with the lies. This stunt was not going to gain votes for Sanders and does not portray him as a leader.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)if any other candidates had access, and "stole" opposing candidates' data.
This will get interesting.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Because I have TONS of data security questions about her unsecured, easily-hackable private server.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Last edited Sat Dec 19, 2015, 07:47 PM - Edit history (1)
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Oh, that's right. they like the burn.
stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)itsrobert
(14,157 posts)"I would like to answer these questions, but my legal counsel has advised me not to comment because of a pending lawsuit against the DNC.
yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)Maybe at the debate?
Juicy_Bellows
(2,427 posts)iandhr
(6,852 posts)Last edited Sun Dec 20, 2015, 02:09 PM - Edit history (1)
an African or European swallow?
Juicy_Bellows
(2,427 posts)Argh!
DURHAM D
(32,609 posts)What are your plans for dealing with your Campaign Manager and other high level staff members who did not tell you about this theft of data and instead allowed you do be caught off guard when DWS finally informed you more than 24 hours after the fact when it became necessary to advise you that your staff was not cooperating with the DNC.
Do you believe that it is immoral to raise money based on a claim of being the victim when your campaign is the perp?