Lawsuit seeks to force DNC to seat Florida delegates

The Democratic minority leader of the state Senate, joined by a delegate pledged to Clinton and one pledged to Obama, filed the suit Thursday.

Published May 22, 2008 7:14PM (EDT)

Steve Geller, a Democrat who's the minority leader in Florida's Senate, filed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee on Thursday. Geller's suit asks the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to issue an order that would force the DNC to seat Florida's delegates at the Democratic convention in August.

Geller was joined in filing the suit (which can be downloaded in PDF form here) by Barbara Effman and Percy Johnson. Both would serve as pledged delegates if Florida's delegation was recognized; Effman is pledged to Clinton and Johnson is pledged to Obama. Geller is a superdelegate; he says he's uncommitted.

At a press conference, Geller told reporters, "I would have done this if Senator [Hillary] Clinton needed the votes or Senator [Barack] Obama needed the votes or if Senator [John] Edwards were still in the race and needed them."


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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