3 years ago, Barack Obama recoiling at the idea that a Bernie Sanders’ surrogate, then Rep. Keith Ellison, might become the new Chair of the Democratic National Committee, pushed forward the candidacy of his Labor Secretary, Tom Perez to block Ellison’s bid. For those who don’t know the details, there was no clear majority for either of these candidates in a contest that also included a number of nationally unknown activists, along the current favorite for the Democratic nomination in South Carolina, Jamie Harrison, and the then Mayor of South Bend, Pete Buttigieg.

Two days before the final vote, after the last candidate forum, Harrison withdrew and threw his support to Perez, but the race still seemed in doubt because of a boomlet that had rallied behind Mayor Pete, who argued that the party needed a new face, a younger face who said he knew how to talk to voters in a red state. True or not, it was a seductive argument and Pete had enough of a following to prevent either of the top two candidates from claiming a majority.

On the day of the vote though, Buttigieg withdrew and threw his support behind Perez. Instead of helping the party move behind the 2016 primary, Buttigieg threw in his lot with the professional political establishment represented by Perez, which saw the Ellison bid as a threat to their stranglehold control of the Party.

As Buttigieg turned his attention to running for President, his support for Perez was rewarded in myriad ways. He was invited to a strategy session of big donors who wanted to block Bernie Sanders renewed bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Soon afterward, Buttigieg wowed the political pundits with stunning fundraising numbers, blowing away the numbers of the former Vice-President, and exceeding even the combined fundraising totals of the various Senators and Congressmembers in the race, with the exception of Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He was able to put together one high-roller top dollar fundraiser after another.

His campaign hired as its National Organizing Director, Michael Halle, who is now becoming more famous as the husband of Tara McGowan, who is the CEO of Another Acronym, the ‘non-profit’ that controlled and secured contracts from Democratic Party organizations for several, for profit tech and consultant ventures controlled by Acronym. This structure has the thin veneer of public spiritedness, but it really just allows Acronym to raise money in the form of donations, and then convert them into profit-making investments in businesses which will swing business to the DNC-favored consultant class. It’s been a nice gig for McGowan, who has paid herself a seven-figure salary. It also meant that the Iowa Democratic Party was going to rely on the vote-tallying and reporting app created by one of those subsidiaries, the company with a name that seems inspired by James Bond movie villains — Shadow, Inc., — to add up the caucus votes and allow for a quick announcement of a winner.

We know what a clusterfuck this turned into — but there’s another point to be made about it right now. Because late last night, the Iowa Democratic Party announced updated numbers that placed Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie in the weird Electoral College style metric of State Delegate Equivalents. Then, the NY Times and various folks on Twitter pointed out various errors that, when corrected, would likely put Sanders in the lead in those totals, awaiting the final 3% which is also expected to favor Sanders.

So, Tom Perez’ response is to order a stop to the count, while Buttigieg is still nominally leading in the SDE count on the IDP’s website...and demanding a recanvass. All very convenient for a party political leadership that seems to be aligning behind Buttigieg as the last stand against Bernie’s ‘hostile takeover’ of the DNC.

Should there be a recanvass? Of course. But, why announce this just before the end of the initial canvass, before the lead likely flips to Sanders in advance of the upcoming New Hampshire debate? There are no coincidences.

If you think this is about policy or even putting forward the most electable candidate, you’d be wrong. This about a group of grifters trying to hang on to their money-printing machines — the DNC, DCCC, DSCC and DGA.

It’s why Perez has stacked his nominations for the Convention committees with people openly hostile to Sanders and even a few who are publicly supporting Buttigieg. It’s why the DCCC is blacklisting any consulting firms that sign up to support progressive primary challenges to Democratic incumbents (except maybe Marie Newman, because Lipinski is just too odious for Emily’s List, NARAL and Planned Parenthood), and why the DSCC has raised tens of millions for the establishment favored candidates in ongoing Democratic primary contests for Senate nominations.

There’s a cancer that’s metastasized in the Democratic Party, and it’s represented by Perez and the big donors and the consultants who are profiting massively off their connections to the inside leadership. This primary race is about some really big issues, like climate change and income inequality and health care for everyone — but it’s also about cleaning up the Democratic Party. It’s time to take sides. It would be great if Sen. Warren would aim her anti-corruption rhetoric at the cancer of corruption at the heart of the Democratic Party.

We need an unshakeable alliance against the grifters who funnel the big donor’s money to their favored consultants and the candidates willing to invite them into their camp. They’re enriching themselves while activists are trying to save the country. We have to push back against this network of grifters. It’s the only way we can really take back this country from the corrupt bastards in the GOP and the profiteers of the resistance at the helm of the Democratic Party. The DNC is not the Party. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking it has at its heart the interests of the tens of millions of Democratic voters. Their main focus is their own power and access to big money.

We see what they’re up to and why. We know Bernie won Iowa and we see that the Democratic Party will do everything they can to hide that fact from the American people, as long as possible anyway. Finish the count. Then, go back and recanvass to confirm the totals or correct errors..