(Editor’s Note — This story was updated with additional information on Thursday at 11 a.m. and at 7:20 p.m.)
[T]he wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders was unwilling Wednesday to explain how the couple purchased a Vermont lakeside home using proceeds from a Maine property. The two parcels have roughly the same value. However, she had been a part-owner of the one in Maine.
According to town records in Bridgton, Maine, Jane O’Meara Sanders gave up her ownership stake in her family’s summer home in June 2015. Two of her brothers, Francis G. O’Meara and Gerard J. O’Meara, are listed as the current owners. All three had owned the property.
A Maine property transfer tax document obtained by VTDigger on Thursday says Sanders sold her stake in the property for $150,000.
In explaining how she and the senator paid for their North Hero summer home, purchased for $575,000 two weeks ago, Jane Sanders told the Champlain Islander and Seven Days newspapers that they used proceeds from the Maine property.
“My family had a lake home in Maine since 1900, but we hadn’t had the time to go there in recent years — especially since my parents passed away,” she said. “We finally let go of it and that enabled us to buy a place in the islands — something I’ve always hoped for.”
According to an obituary from 2005, Jane Sanders’ mother, Bernadette O’Meara, enjoyed “spending summers at her rustic log cabin on the shores of Long Lake in Bridgton, Maine, surrounded by family and friends.”
The O’Meara family’s Maine waterfront property — 1.24 acres with two small wooden camps — is worth $618,716, slightly more than the North Hero property, according to records from Bridgton’s assessor database. The land is evaluated at $508,000, while the two structures are worth a total of $110,716. It has long been in the family and is located on O’Meara Lane.
The Sanders’ new four-bedroom home in the Champlain Islands — which has 500 feet of Lake Champlain frontage on 1.13 acres — was purchased for $575,000, according to records at the North Hero Town Hall. No mortgage was recorded with the warranty deed, as would be done when a bank loan is involved in a purchase, according to Assistant Town Clerk Corrin Julow.
Jane Sanders declined to comment to VTDigger on Wednesday about how much she received for her share of the Maine property and whether she and the senator used other funds — and if so, from what source — to finance the purchase. She also would not comment on public criticism of the couple for purchasing a half-million-dollar summer home after the senator frequently decried the gap between rich and poor as he campaigned for president.
The Associated Press on Thursday reported that she and her husband “paid cash for the North Hero home.” Jane Sanders told AP she sold her share of the Bridgton, Maine, property to her brother for $150,000, “added some money from her retirement account and from an advance her husband got on a book he is writing to come up with the money to buy the couple’s third home.”
The Vermont senator’s book deal with Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of Macmillan publishing, was announced on July 14. Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination two days prior.
Jane and Bernie Sanders’ spokesman Michael Briggs has said she did not receive any compensation in connection with her husband’s run for president. Federal Election Commission rules also prohibit any personal use of campaign funds. Any leftover campaign money can be used for another political campaign or to set up a political action committee, or be given to another candidate, a charity or a national party.
The North Hero home, north of the village with views east to Franklin County, is the third residence the Sanders own. Their primary residence is in Burlington, and they have a home in Washington, D.C. The island property was originally listed for $659,000.
The couple reported a net worth of between $175,000 and $700,000 in 2015, according to Politico. In April of this year, Sen. Sanders said on the campaign trail that he was “one of the poorest members” of the Senate. In 2013, National Public Radio reported the couple had a net worth of $330,000.
In 2011, Jane Sanders received a $200,000 severance package when she resigned as president of Burlington College. The college closed this year in part because of debt incurred under her tenure when it purchased property owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.
In 2012, she spoke out publicly against a proposed recreation vehicle park near Long Lake in Maine. At the time, she said her family had owned their home there for 105 years across five generations, according to a report in the Bridgton News.
Jane Sanders’ oldest brother, Benedict Jr., is deceased. Another brother, Ned, is not listed as an owner of the Maine residence.
The North Hero property was purchased from W. Roger Sorg, a dentist from New Jersey, and Caroline Sorg. They owned the North Hero House, a hotel just down the road from their home, from 1969 to 1985. They now live in Florida, town records show.
As a presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders blasted other candidates for taking “huge piles of undisclosed cash.” Sanders himself, however, ran out the clock on his own financial disclosures required for presidential candidates by the Federal Elections Commission, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity.
