DNC Shuts Down Climate Debate Compromise

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Byย Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Reposted with permission from EcoWatch.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will not let 2020 primary candidates share the stage in a debate devoted to theย climate crisis, the party voted Saturday during its summer meeting in Sanย Francisco.

The DNC resolutions committee had alreadyย voted against holding a party-sanctioned debateย on the topic Thursday, but it did approve language that would have allowed candidates to speak face-to-face on the issue at a third-party sponsored event. That compromise was voted down 222-137 Saturday,ย CNN reported. CNN and MSNBC both plan to hold climate forums in September, but the candidates will have to speak separately and will not be able to engage eachย other.

โ€œThis decision is as baffling as it is alarming,โ€ candidate and former Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke tweeted of the decision. โ€œOur planet is burningโ€”the least we can do as a party is debate what to do aboutย it.โ€

Climate activists like the youth-ledย Sunrise Movementย have been mobilizing for a climate-specific debate for months, and most of the candidates have said they would participate, but top DNC officials, including Chair Tom Perez, have argued that it is unfair to single out one issue for discussion over others,ย The Mercury News reported.

โ€œWe want to make sure we don’t change the rules in the middle of the process,โ€ Perez said Saturday, as The Mercury News reported. โ€œWe have a North Star principle: We want to be fair toย everyone.โ€

But others argued that the climate crisis is not just anotherย issue.

โ€œIf an asteroid was coming to earth, there would be no question about having a debate about it,โ€ Kansas DNC member Chris Reeves said, as The Mercury News reported. โ€œBut with this existential crisis facing the world, we all sit and wring ourย hands.โ€

The debate at the meeting Saturday was interrupted by protesters chanting โ€œWe can’t waitโ€ and โ€œFailure ofย leadership.โ€

โ€œThe Democratic Party needs the energy, motivation, and organizing capacity of young people to defeat Trump in 2020. But Tom Perez keeps shooting the party in the foot by rejecting that energy and turning it away,โ€ the Sunrise Movement said in a statementย Saturday.

After Thursday’s vote,ย The Sludge suggestedย one reason why the DNC might be hesitant to endorse a climate debate. Perez put forward a resolution, approved in 2018, that allowed the DNC to take donations fromย fossil fuelย employees and their political action committees. That resolution weakened an earlier ban on taking money from fossil fuel PACs. The Sludge laid out how the change has impacted the party’sย finances:

โ€œSince January, the DNC has taken at least $60,750 from owners and executives of fossil fuel companies. The DNC‘s fossil fuel industry donors include George Krumme, owner of Krumme Oil Company, who contributed $20,000, and Stephen Hightower, president and CEO of Hightower Petroleum Company, who contributed $35,500. Other donors include Duke Energy President CJ Triplette, Crystal Flash Energy executive Thomas Fehsenfeld, and Southern Petroleum Resources President David Simpkins.โ€

However, the climate debate fight is not necessarily over. Presidential candidate Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) put out a call for fellow candidates to defy the DNC and join him for a climate debate in Youngstown, Ohio,ย The Toledo Blade reported Sunday.

โ€œIt’s truly a disappointment that the DNC denied our party the opportunity to show America that a strong agenda that reverses climate change means high paying manufacturing jobs for American union workers and solid profits for American farmers,โ€ Ryan said in a statement. โ€œVoters deserve a chance to know that we take this issue seriously and are going to be very proactive in reversing climate change, unlike the currentย administration.โ€

Main image:ย Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, in 2016.ย Credit:ย Gage Skidmore,ย CCย BYSAย 2.0

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