Weedle Deed's Weasel of the Week for 5/15/2016 Goes to Nevada Dem State Chair Roberta Lange

In a heavily contested week for Weedle Deeds 'Weasel of the Week award, Nevada Democratic State Chair Roberta Lange pulled ahead last night as the state Democratic Convention in Nevada devolved into chaos at the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Protests, people passing out, calls for medical assistance, and Sheriffs deputies being called in were just a few of the incidents occurring last night in Las Vegas.

One might ask how state Chair Lange gets the blame for this... Well....

What was already a contentious divide among attendees, which had begun in Clark County, NV last month due to the deep rift between the supporters of the two candidates, became even more hostile as new state Chair Roberta Lange led an effort to steam-roll a highly inaccurate 1st count of the delegates before even all of the Nevada delegates had registered and seated. After the bogus 1st delegate count, Chair Lange rammed through a troubling set of party rules, which were then passed despite the fact that there was no majority for them in a voice vote. One rule change involved going with the delegate count from the first tier vote and ignoring the delegate count from the second tier, which Sanders had won. The rules were voted on in the convention hall through a vocal “aye” or “nay,” led by Chair Roberta Lange. Even with a clearly larger number of "Nays" caught on video, State Chair Lange announced that the “ayes” won and that her decision could not be contested. The vote was also taken at 9:30 in the morning at which time, many delegates were still in line and had not as yet been seated.

While the steam-rolling of the convention rules was troubling, it was just a taste of things to come from the new state Chair hand-picked by Debbie Wasserman-Shultz ( Hillary's 2008 campaign manager and current Chair of the DNC ). After a huge protest by Bernie supporters wanting a full recount (which the state party tried to ignore by turning off the lights and turning the music WAY up to drown the protesters out), the Chair had the state party strip 64 of Bernie's delegates of their credentials from the second delegate count. This was done in order to give a very slight ( 31 delegates ) edge to Hillary Clinton, who was then awarded the majority of the 'at-large' Nevada delegates. State party representatives said the 64 Bernie delegates in question were denied delegate status because their records "couldn’t be located " or that they were not registered as Democrats by the May 1st deadline. A minority report was written about the delegates’ being left out, stating that they weren’t given a chance to demonstrate to the committee that they were registered Democrats. The report will be passed along to the Democratic National Committee, but according to State party representatives, no further action will be taken on the 64 stripped delegates, at least at the state convention. A motion was seconded ALSO to remove the State Chair, which was completely ignored by party officials and not allowed to be voted on.

At the end of 16 hours, one speaker from Nevada's 3rd district called for a motion for a recount from the podium, ( Seen here on video ) which was seconded loudly from the floor. But instead of honoring the seconded motion on the floor, State Chair Roberta Lange took to the podium and called for a motion to adjourn, which a member of her staff seconded, and then in the face of a MASSIVE 'Nay' vote from the floor, gaveled the meeting closed and stormed off the stage followed by many of the state party leadership. At this point law enforcement took positions in front of the podium to shield the state chair as she fled the building. Sunday's schedule to continue the convention was cancelled and the entire situation now appears to be " in the hands of the attorneys". Whether this makes it into the MSM news coverage is anyone's bet.

And so for manipulating the Nevada Democratic State Convention so blatantly on the behalf of the DNC's preferred candidate, for ignoring the state party's own rules, for stripping 64 Bernie Sanders delegates of their credentials to obtain a paper-thin majority for Hillary Clinton, for ignoring multiple seconded motions for recounts and the removal of herself as the State Chair, Roberta Lange WINS this weeks award for Weedle Deeds Weasel of the Week! CONGRATULATIONS!