Vote suppression

The day after the Culinary Workers endorse Obama, the Nevada teacher’s union, officially neutral but with a leadership that supports HRC, sues to prevent voting at casinos.

It’s an ugly thing.

Any comment, Senator Clinton?

Update A pro-Clinton reader writes:

Why is it always assumed that anything supporters of a candidate do

is the candidate acting through them as surrogates?

Meanwhile, various commenters on Daily Kos are fervently denying that the lawsuit is linked to the Clinton campaign.

The suit was filed on behalf of the Nevada Education Association, which has made no formal endorsement in the race. The Deputy Executive Director of the Association, Debbie Cahill, is a founding member of Hillary Clinton’s “Nevada Women’s Leadership Council.” Cahill, before becoming Deputy ED, was the union’s Director of Government Relations.

Even if this lawsuit wasn’t invented at Clinton HQ, it’s hard to believe that a phone call from the candidate turn it off? If HRC can’t lead her own followers, how can she lead the country?

Another claim made by the Clintonites is that the allocation formula was changed at the last minute to favor the Culinary Workers, and that the suit was filed in reaction to that last-minute change. In fact, the formula was approved in early November. Obama got the Culinary Workers’ endorsement on Wednesday. The suit was filed on Friday. Any questions?

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com