Wisconsin Dems DUMP Clinton Delegate/McCain Voter

Debra Bartoshevich is being removed from the Wisconsin Delegation for DNC Rules Violations by a savvy and quick acting Wisconsin Democratic Party.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party moved Friday to strip a woman of her position as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention after she told a newspaper she would vote for Republican Sen. John McCain for president in November.

State party members voted at their convention Friday night to challenge Debra Bartoshevich's status as a delegate to the Denver convention in late August

There are rules at play here, considering her admission that she will vote for McCain in November.

Those comments prompted Democrats to support a complaint asking the national party's credentials committee to refuse to seat her at the convention. The resolution said Bartoshevich violated a Democratic National Committee rule requiring delegates to support the party's nominee and not any other candidate.

Disunity of this sort, at this level, simply will not be tolerated.   Of note, her replacement will be a Clinton Alternate moved into her seat... so Clinton is not losing a delegate, rather a delegate elected to represent Clinton is losing her seat at the convention.

"It's extremely important that we send a message that Democrats in the state of Wisconsin will never support somebody who supports John McCain for president," state party chairman Joe Wineke said to cheers among the hundreds of party activists.

This did not come easy however... it was done with heavy weight upon the mind of the Wisconsin party members who voted her out

"It hurts my soul and it hurts my heart that I have to stand here and do this resolution on a delegate who claimed to be a Hillary Clinton supporter who has now declared her support for John McCain," said Paula Dorsey, a party activist from Milwaukee.

I personally think the party acted in good faith here to get the best representation for them at the convention.  The convention is alot more than simply voting for the Presidential Nominee... there has to be cooperation as the platform is put together; there has to be strength through unity to lead to victory.

To give a Clinton Delegate a free pass to publicize her vote for McCain in November is simply a black eye for the Wisconsin Democratic Party.  

The Original Story was shocking and embarrassing Friday Night...

"I’m sure people are going to be upset with me," said Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old emergency room nurse from Waterford in Racine County, and convention delegate pledged to Clinton.

Joe Wineke, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, reacted with disbelief when first told Friday afternoon that one of his state party delegates is now a McCain supporter.

Wineke said "almost everybody I know who was for Hillary" is solidly behind Obama now. As for Bartoshevich, he said, "my suspicion is she doesn’t know what she’s getting into" because "the delegates to this convention will be very upset."

"No self-respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her — that’s by Susan B. Anthony," said Bartoshevich, referring to the suffragist.

And before anyone screams disunity

Another pledged Clinton delegate, Paula Dorsey of Milwaukee, offered the resolution.

Bartoshevich became a pawn for the GOP who alerted the media to the situation... Maybe it's time Harry Reid takes action in Congress... and follows the lead of the Wisconsin Party.

And no, that's not a joke.