WASHINGTON (CN) - A self-made millionaire who ran for president last year claims in a federal complaint that the Democratic National Committee’s bias toward white candidates thwarted his campaign.
"The Democratic Party talks about inclusion," Willie Wilson said in a phone interview. "I found that it was not so.”
A resident of Hazelcrest, Illinois, Wilson filed suit on April 19 in Washington, saying the DNC “intentionally denied him equal logistical assistance and guidance, resources, and access to certain information while simultaneously providing such to similarly situated white presidential candidates.”
Though the DNC did not respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit, allegations of its bias are nothing new. Indeed the committee’s chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was ultimately forced out ahead of Hillary Clinton’s nomination last year when internal DNC emails brought to light by WikiLeaks exposed a concerted effort by party officials to sabotage the candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders.
As Clinton’s biggest opponent in the primary race, Sanders was instrumental in bringing the DNC’s disparate treatment of candidates to light.
The Vermont senator sued the DNC himself in December 2015 for suspending his campaign’s access to the committee’s voter database.
For less keyed in candidates like Wilson, the disparity was more significant.
"It was not clear to the Wilson campaign that this was even available to them during the campaign, until Bernie Sanders sued the DNC," Wilson’s attorney Wayne Kendall said in an interview, regarding the voter database.
Wilson had managed to qualify for the Democratic ticket only in 10 states, but he claims that was enough to make the DNC worry.
As a rags-to-riches businessman with a strong Christian background, Wilson says the DNC likely perceived him as a threat to Clinton’s already shaky hold on black and and working-class voters.
The complaint quotes DNC officials as repeatedly characterizing Wilson as an unsanctioned candidate, but attorney Kendall contends that no DNC rules support its efforts to keep Wilson from accessing its voter database.
"So the question is,” Kendall asked, “how were these decisions made to allow some candidates to have access to a tool, which by all indications, is a seriously vital tool for mounting any sort of a credible opportunity to have a national campaign for the office of the president?”
Discovery will help resolve whether other candidates like Jim Webb and Lincoln Chaffe had access, the attorney noted.
"We've not seen any definitive methodology by which the DNC goes about so-called sanctioning or legitimizing a candidate," Kendall said.