[V]TDigger has reported on Sen. Bernie Sanders since our founding nearly a decade ago. As his 2020 presidential campaign officially gets underway, revisit key stories in our archive that shed light on the senator’s history.
Sanders took a circuitous route to political popularity. But as his profile grew, so did scrutiny of his finances, he and his family’s past leadership roles in Burlington, and missteps by his 2016 campaign team.
Here are five Sanders stories worth revisiting:
Bernie Sanders’ early days in Vermont: His life, loves and circuitous route to politics
July 9, 2015:
“In media profiles of the senator, Sanders is transported from graduation at the University of Chicago to his idealistic foray into politics with the Liberty Union party.
But what brought Bernie Sanders to Vermont, and made him the candidate he is now, wasn’t the hope of finding a home in politics. It was simply to find a home that happened to be about as different as one could imagine from the place he grew up: Brooklyn.”
Sanders moved to Vermont with his college sweetheart — and his actual life in the late 1960s and early 1970s was decidedly less radical than it’s often been portrayed.
Emails reveal FBI, Justice probe of Burlington College
April 27, 2017:
“In January 2016, after reporting by VTDigger showing former Burlington College President Jane Sanders overstated pledged donations in applying for a loan so the school could purchase its former North Avenue campus, Republican lawyer Brady Toensing made a formal request to the U.S. attorney for a fraud investigation…”
Public records obtained by VTDigger confirmed that federal authorities were investigating Burlington College over a land deal made while Jane Sanders, the wife of Sen. Bernie Sanders, was the school’s president. The college closed in May 2016 under what it called the “crushing weight” of the debt from that deal.
Late last year, the Sanders team said the investigation was closed with no charges.
One family, two schools: Questions raised about another Sanders deal
June 13, 2017:
“While one deal struck by Jane O’Meara Sanders during her time as Burlington College’s president has triggered a federal investigation, another arrangement she engineered is breeding claims of nepotism and allegations of veiled threats against her husband’s presidential campaign.
The bad blood centers on the relationship the college forged with the Vermont Woodworking School, co-founded and run by Sanders’ daughter, Carina Driscoll.”
Burlington College’s final president Carol Moore called a program arranged by Jane Sanders “a sweetheart deal” that strained the school’s finances when it was already on the brink.
Sanders campaign millions go to mystery firm
July 15, 2016:
“Nestled near the end of a suburban cul-de-sac in Alexandria, Virginia, is one of the most profitable media buying agencies in the 2016 primary race for the White House.”
Old Towne Media LLC purchased more than $82 million in TV ad time for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign. Registered to a residential address in suburban Virginia, it has no website and no listed phone number. National news reports called it “a black box” and a “front company.” But its principal buyers were past associates of Jane Sanders.
Sanders Institute has little to show for first year and $500K
July 29, 2018:
“Less attention has been paid to The Sanders Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit without disclosure requirements whose mission must be chiefly non-partisan. A VTDigger analysis of organization’s maiden year found little original work from the think tank, which took in nearly a half-million dollars in contributions and grants last year.”
The Sanders Institute, a Progressive think tank with a mission to “revitalize democracy,” had a star-studded launch in 2017. But a year later, some involved with Sanders’ political movement were left questioning the efficacy of the organization.
A Sanders Institute summit last November drew criticism for leaving out local progressive leaders.