PHILADELPHIA — Democratic Party leaders are proposing a set of new rules governing conduct at upcoming state party conventions to avoid a repeat of the chaos in Nevada that sent chills up the spines of Democrats nationwide.

With both the Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigns agreeing to follow through, it’s a positive first step forward in the wake of a raucous state convention that laid bare the divide between Sanders supporters and the Democratic establishment.


But the new guidelines — the most extensive response yet from national Democrats to Saturday’s blow-up — merely represent short-term fixes, rather than broad gestures designed to placate frustrated Sanders supporters who feel the Democratic Party apparatus has worked against their interests.

“Now is that going to change some diehards’ minds about how they should look at the party and stuff? I don't know. Probably not,” said Idaho Democratic Party chairman Bert Marley. “But I think it will help with a lot of people that are new to the process and just are having a little trouble figuring out what's going on. I think that's more what this is addressed to: how do we help these people navigate through the process so their voices are heard and they can walk away with it whether they're successful or not and say, 'I made a difference, I was part of the process.'”

The proposals, put forth by New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley, president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, came at a Friday meeting devoted to logistical talk about July national convention planning but where Saturday’s blow-up was still very much on the minds of party chairs and officials.

Speaking to fellow party chairs at the Sheraton Downtown hotel here, Buckley laid down a set of rules that would commit the Democratic National Committee and both campaigns to maintaining an active presence at the remaining events.

“Every state party was stunned and saddened by what was alleged to have occurred in Nevada. Unfortunately, while Nevada has gotten the most coverage, it’s not the only example of bad behavior at a state party convention this year, and that needs to be addressed,” Buckley said to a conference room of elected Democrats, opening the meeting’s public afternoon session shortly before DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke. “It is not acceptable for a state chair, or anyone participating within the Democratic Party for that matter, to be the victim of death threats or have their families safety or jobs threatened."

The proposals — which drew no audible protests — include having the campaigns and DNC commit to sending senior staff members to be on site for the conventions, to have the convention leaders provide their proposed rules to both campaigns and the DNC at least 48 hours early, to ensure all speakers run without interruptions, and to secure a commitment from both campaigns and the national party to help with the cost of any needed law enforcement or security.

Those guidelines were necessitated by a Nevada Democratic state convention last Saturday where attendees repeatedly disrupted proceedings throughout the day and shouted down California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who was there on behalf of Clinton. Roberta Lange, the state party chairwoman, was inundated with death threats. The next day, the state party headquarters was defaced with graffiti.

In the aftermath, Sanders, the Nevada Democratic Party, and Wasserman Schultz issued starkly worded public statements pointing fingers at each other to varying degree.

“It would appear to me that some of Sen. Sanders’ supporters were a little over enthusiastic,” Kansas Democratic Party chairman Lee Kinch, who has not endorsed either candidate, said Friday. “I guess I'm being charitable. I mean really the way they treated Sen. Boxer was totally inappropriate so in that sense I think their conduct wasn't what I would have hoped it would have been.”

Lange was in attendance at the meeting Friday, and her presence was noted by a number of leaders including Wasserman Schultz, who thanked her.

The DNC chairwoman, who has also come under fire from the Sanders’ campaign and his supporters, urged Democrats to remember the experience of 2008, when the party also experienced tensions in the primary but united in time for the nominating convention.

Yet she did not mention Sanders’ name once in her remarks, instead focusing on the need for unity rather than offering concessions to Sanders backers who are still fighting despite their candidate’s narrow path to the nomination.

“I knew what kind of impact it could have if someone as fiercely supportive of Hillary Clinton — like I had been publicly and forcefully — supported him,” she said, referring to her decision to back Obama late in the campaign. “My fierce support for Hillary Clinton did not mean that I could never support Barack Obama. What it meant was that originally I had a strong preference, but I knew what my priorities were: a Democrat in the White House who would fight for progressive values."

Sanders has said frequently that he would support the eventual nominee and that he would fight to beat Donald Trump, but he and his campaign have also suggested that party leaders have a long way to go in order to address Sanders’ voters concerns on policy platform points and other reforms. Sanders’ political outreach director Nick Carter and deputy campaign manager Rich Pelletier were in attendance at the meeting, as was Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook.

Clinton’s campaign shrugs off any claim by the Vermont senator that he still has a chance at the nomination and on Thursday the former secretary of state effectively declared victory in the primary, saying in an interview with CNN, “I will be the nominee for my party.”

“That is already done, in effect. There's no way that I won't be,” Clinton added.

Maine Democratic National Committeeman Troy Jackson, a Sanders supporter, chalked up the new proposals as an admission of failure by national Democrats.

“In light of all the claims they made about violence afterwards in Nevada this just seems to be in the attempt to not have to admit that they made huge mistakes in Nevada. If it wasn't their fault, the mistakes they made at the Nevada convention, then they wouldn't be doing this now in my opinion,” Jackson said in an email after reading Buckley’s proposed points.

Clinton’s campaign has kept a low profile throughout the furor, determined not to alienate Sanders supporters for fear that they might not bring an equal or even similar level of enthusiasm on the Democratic side in the general election.

Maine Democratic Party chairman Phil Bartlett, who is unaligned, said Buckley’s proposals Friday were an attempt to move on from the entire last week of squabbling between the Sanders campaign and the DNC.

“Clearly some tempers boiled over and it's a challenging time for the Nevada Democratic Committee and all of the delegates. To me this is an opportunity. What Ray is trying to do, I think, is reset the clock here,” Bartlett said. “To look forward, to make sure there are no surprises, that the legitimate concerns raised by the Sanders campaign are heard and acknowledged so that we can figure out how best to move forward. Conventions by their nature are to bring their most passionate advocates together.”

“I think it's probably part of an ongoing conversation that we will keep having with one another as to how we can do things better,” added Virginia Democratic Party chairwoman Susan Swecker. “Because you can always improve right?”

