WEST DES MOINES, IOWA — Jeff Weaver, the presidential campaign manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), says he is worried Hillary Clinton’s team is resorting to “irregular” tactics to win the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1.
Weaver’s concern is based on what he described as an “alarming” letter received by a voter named Dennis Clifford in Hawarden, Iowa. Although Clifford is a Sanders supporter, the letter, from a Clinton campaign office in Sioux City, urged him to caucus for Clinton and identified a non-resident as his local precinct captain. That would not actually be prohibited, but Weaver, who admitted he wasn’t familiar with the rules, claimed it indicated the Clinton campaign is “infiltrating the caucuses with out-of-state paid staffers.”
Clifford, a retiree, told Yahoo about the letter, which he received earlier this month. It was written by a Clinton campaign staffer named Morgan Luther who was identified as the precinct captain for Hawarden.
“I’m Hillary’s captain for your caucus and you’ll find me at your caucus wearing a blue shirt that says ‘captain,’” Luther wrote. “It’s my job to make sure all of Hillary’s supporters are in attendance on caucus night to ensure Hillary wins.”
According to Clifford, he became concerned when he realized that the return address on the letter was a Clinton campaign office in Sioux City, Iowa, which is about 50 miles away from Hawarden. Clifford said he found it unusual that any campaign would name someone a precinct captain who was not from the precinct.
