Though the consensus seems nearly clear that Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison is primed and ready to serve as the DNC’s chairman, there are those inside the party structure that are working behind the scenes to keep this progressive dream from becoming a reality.
Despite endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and many other more “sensible” Democrats, opponents of Ellison continue to fight to spread misinformation and outdated campaign criticisms to keep the progressive agenda sidelined.
Both DNC members who are critical of Ellison, and some of whom support Perez have begun attacking Ellison with outdated attacks used during his first run for the house way back in 2006. These recycled talking points have long been explained away, and the reigniting of those same criticisms is unfair and crooked.
Among the attacks are assertions that Ellison is incapable of running the party because he can’t manage his own life. This attack comes from some past issues in Ellison’s life including a time when his license was temporarily suspended.
According to the Hill:
“That year, Ellison’s then-wife, Kim Ellison, who acted as his campaign treasurer, wrote to the Minneapolis Star Tribune to accept responsibility for all of the violations.
At the time, Kim Ellison said that memory loss associated with her multiple sclerosis was the reason for the unpaid traffic tickets, late campaign finance reports and household bookkeeping errors.”
Truly, there is no better person to represent the floundering Democratic party in this moment than Ellison. That fact has been proved time and time again as he stood against Obama on the TPP, pushed back as Democrats continued the horrendous action of deporting undocumented immigrants, voted consistently against military action abroad, authored the Credit Card Holder’s Bill of Rights, and much more.
Ellison’s opponent Tom Perez is not a bad pick for progressives either, but what is the point of pitting two respectable progressives against one another. Howard Dean had the decency to step down amid Ellison’s candidacy and Perez should do the same.
Nevertheless, this is looking like it is not going to be a fair fight. For all the bitching that the Democrats do about the evil Russians, they are not and have never been above petty political attacks.
