McGovern: 'A crude, cynical move’

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32958, 3 July 1972, Page 13

McGovern: ' A crude, cynical move’

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright! WASHINGTON, July 1.

Senator George McGovern is still reacting angrily to the decision of the Democratic Party’s credentials committee to deprive him of more than half the delegate votes he won in the California primary election.

He has sent a stronglyworded letter to more than 3000 of the delegates to the Miami Beach convention next month, and one of his senior aides went as far as hinting that the senator might desert the Democrats

and form his own party if the convention endorsed the decision.

In his letter, Senator McGovern said that the move to deprive him of 151 of the 271 delegate votes threatened the entire Democratic Party.

“In my 20 years in politics, I can scarcely recall such a crude and cynical move,” he wrote, “and I cannot imagine one more calculated to destroy party unity, and shatter the faith and hope of millions of Democrats who took part in the delegate-selection process.

“. . , It would be a costly victory indeed if the same forces that manipulated the credential committee were able to sway the entire convention.

“And what if those under the banner of ‘Stop McGovern’ were able to do so only by the cynical theft of

151 delegate votes in broad daylight? What would the nomination be worth to anyone else?” Walk-out threat In interviews, Senator McGovern sought to soften the threat he had made earlier of walking out of the convention if one of his rivals for the Democratic nomination was chosen by what he described as “crooked and unethical procedures.” But campaign aides later told a press conference that the senator could not support a candidate who won the nomination “by the kind of manoeuvres that stripped him of delegate votes from California.” Senator McGovern’s strong reaction foreshadows a bitter fight at the convention,

which will open a week tomorrow.

The bitterness that burst into the open with the 72-to-66 vote against him in the credentials committee plays into the hands of President Nixon, and strengthens Mr Nixon’s re-election prospects, in the view of political observers in Washington; but Senator McGovern’s aides forecast a backlash to the committee vote that will work in his favour.

Mr Frank Mandiewicz, Senator McGovern’s campaign director, said that he assumed that the possibility of Senator McGovern’s forming his own party would be considered if he believed he was deprived of the nomination by underhand methods at the Miami Beach convention.

Other aides, while leaving open the possibility of a walk-out, expressed confidence that the credentials committee vote on California would be overturned, and that Senator McGovern would be the party’s choice. Illinois ruling The split between the McGovern forces and those op-

posing him was evident again yesterday, when the credentials committee voted to unseat the Mayor of Chicago (Mr Richard Daley) and 58 other uncommitted Illinois delegates to the national convention.

The committee's action was a victory for Senator McGovern, who is expected to win at least 41 of the 59 delegates if the ruling is upheld

by the convention in Miami Beach. But while the McGovern delegates on the credentials committee voted solidly, most of those committed to other candidates supported Mr Daley, and vowed to take their fight to retain their seats to the full convention. They also threatened to go to court again in an effort to overturn the committee’s decision.

They won a District Court ruling two weeks ago that the Democratic Party’s guidelines for selecting convention delegates violated the Illinois election laws.

A Federal Appellate Court declined to hear the case until the committee had acted. Mr Daley’s lawyers said that they would petition for a hearing in the Circuit Court of Appeals as soon as possible. The challenge to the Daley delegation was based on the party’s new delegate-selec-tion rules, which require states to provide adequate representation for women, youths, and minority interests on their delegations. Of the 59 challenged Illinois delegates, 12 are black, eight are young people and six are women.

A Chicago lawyer, Mr y/ayne Whalen, who presented the challengers’ case, submitted that the manner in which the Daley delegation was put together flagrantly violated the guidelines. Mr Jerome Torshen, representing the Daley delegation, said that it was chosen in a free, open election, in accordance with Illinois laws.