Dem senator: Clinton should let Sanders help write party platform

A key Democratic senator backing Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign says her rival, Bernie Sanders, should be allowed to help write the party’s platform.

“I think she should work with him on the platform,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told The Washington Post on Tuesday. He encouraged their “representatives” to sit down for a discussion.

{mosads}”What do we do to fix Dodd-Frank? First of all, you defend it,” Brown said of Wall Street reform, one of Sanders’ key issues.

The two candidates have disagreed on how to handle big financial institutions, with Sanders saying more should be done to break up big banks.

Brown said there could be room for compromise, citing Dodd-Frank’s “living wills” requirement which forces big banks to detail how they would move to bankruptcy in the event of a financial crisis.

 “The living will provisions could end up forcing the banks to be smaller a year from now,” Brown continued.

Sanders aides have reportedly been pressing Democratic Party officials for a significant role in drafting the party’s platform ahead of its convention in July, focusing on issues like a $15 minimum wage.

Sanders also said Sunday that whether he commits to enthusiastically backing Clinton is “totally dependent” on her platform.

He said if she’s the nominee, he’d like to see “the strongest progressive agenda.”

“Bernie is painted in bright colors, and Hillary is more black and white details,” Brown told the Post. “How you mesh those two is a tricky process.”

Brown, who has recently sought to tamp down talk of being Clinton’s running mate, said “discussions and even negotiations” over the party platform could help bring the two together and said he’d be happy to help.

Clinton is ahead of Sanders in delegates, but Brown said Sanders has every right to stay in the race up to the convention.

“It’s important that Bernie support her and say he trusts her on these issues. And I expect Bernie to do that,” Brown told the Post.

“I don’t expect him to do it before California. I’m not sure I expect him to do it before the convention. And that’s okay. I don’t expect him to drop out. I don’t think he should.”