The Democratic headquarters in Las Vegas were vandalized during the weekend.
Just a day after a raucous Democratic state party convention that ended early amid protests from Bernie Sanders supporters, both the state party headquarters in Las Vegas and the Carson City party offices were vandalized by graffiti attacks.
Carson Democratic Chair Marty McGarry said the timing is suspicious but it’s hard to figure out the random black spray paint on the Carson office sign.
“We can’t point to what it says obviously because it doesn’t say anything,” she said.
Down south, however, it’s much easier to blame the graffiti on Sanders backers.
“Cheating is not winning,” and “You are scum,” were clearly sprayed onto the office building.
“We’ve been there (on Jones Street) almost five years and never had this happen,” said McGarry. “So I don’t think it’s our townsmen that have suddenly risen up against the Democratic Party.”
She also pointed out that there was no spray paint on the other political signs out front of the building including Mayor Bob Crowell and Supervisor candidate John Barrette.
McGarry said she has no knowledge of similar attacks in other parts of the state.
The action also comes just a few days after a Clark County District Judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by Sanders backers claiming the party had deliberately sent them misleading notifications that caused them to miss a key deadline to run for party offices. Judge Ronald Israel ruled that the confusion over the deadline was caused by misinformation spread by Sanders supporters themselves.
Board of Supervisors candidate Brad Bonkowski also was the victim of a similar attack in April with at least 20 of his signs were spray painted with black paint. He said at the time it was obviously a specific attack on him since signs belonging to other candidates at those same locations were untouched.
The Nevada Democratic Convention turned into an unruly and unpredictable event, after tension with organizers led to some Bernie Sanders supporters throwing chairs and to security clearing the room, organizers said.
The Associated Press reported Friction between Bernie Sanders’ supporters and state Democratic Party leaders had flared throughout the day on Saturday. The convention was scheduled to end by 7 p.m. and when it hadn’t wrapped up by 10 p.m., authorities at the Paris Las Vegas casino informed party organizers they could no longer provide the security necessary to handle the crowd.
The hostilities began when Sanders supporters accused state party leaders of putting them at a disadvantage, and they objected to procedural votes to approve the rules of the event on Saturday. They also questioned a credentials committee’s disqualification of 58 would-be Sanders delegates. State party officials said the would-be delegates didn’t provide acceptable identification and did not meet the May 1 deadline to register as Democrats.
State party officials said some Clinton-supporting delegates were ruled ineligible too, although in lower numbers.
Clinton has a five-delegate advantage over Sanders in Nevada, 20 to his 15, and is expected to win a majority of the state’s eight unpledged superdelegates — party officials who can vote for the candidate they choose. Going into Tuesday’s primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, Clinton has 1,716 pledged delegates from primaries and caucuses, compared with 1,433 for Sanders.
Some Sanders supporters upset with Saturday’s proceedings protested against state party chairwoman, Roberta Lange, outside the Nevada State Democratic Party headquarters on Sunday. Her cellphone number was posted on social media and officials said Lange had received hundreds of phone calls and text messages, including death threats.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
