Sanders is no longer the only socialist in the Democrat crowd.
Bernie Sanders said Tuesday he’s running for President again, and we trust this time no one will sell his chances short. Having come close to winning the Democratic nomination in 2016, the Vermont socialist should get the scrutiny he dodged last time.
Among 2020 contenders, only Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden rival Mr. Sanders for national name recognition, and only Mr. Biden is beating him in the polls. Mr. Sanders ended 2018 with some $9 million in his Senate campaign fund, another advantage in a crowded field.
But now Mr. Sanders is no longer the solo socialist. He lost to Hillary Clinton but shifted the Democratic Party left. The Democratic field is full of women and minorities now running on his Medicare for All proposal, which would eliminate private health insurance, and the Green New Deal. Mr. Sanders may discover at 77 years o1d that it’s a disadvantage to be white and male among Democrats.
Mr. Sanders has already had to apologize to women who worked for his campaign in 2016 and say they were harassed by male staffers. He can also expect more scrutiny for the dealings of his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, who has been his congressional chief of staff and remains among his most trusted advisers. Her tenure as president of Burlington College in Vermont deserves more attention in particular.
Mrs. Sanders left the school in 2011 with a $200,795 severance. In 2016 the college closed because of what it called the “crushing weight of debt” incurred on Mrs. Sanders’s watch. The college had purchased 32 acres of property from the Roman Catholic diocese for $10 million in 2010, though it began the year with less than $1.8 million in net assets.
To finance the purchase, the college took out a $6.7 million tax-exempt loan from People’s United Bank and a $3.65 million subordinate loan from the diocese. It soon fell behind on repayments. The diocese eventually lost between $1.6 million and $2 million in principal and interest, according to a request for investigation sent to the U.S. Attorney from Catholic parishioners· in 2016.
The letter was written by Brady Toensing, vice chair of the Vermont Republican Party, and it suggested Mrs. Sanders had committed bank fraud by misleading lenders about Burlington College’s fundraising grants and pledges. To obtain the bank loan, Mrs. Sanders signed documents suggesting the college had secured commitments for at least $2.27 million, but it raised only $676.000 from 2010 through 2014.
Two donors said their pledges had been overstated in loan paperwork, the news website VTDigger.org reported in 2015.
It’s fair to ask if Mr. Sander’s senatorial status enabled this fiasco. The parishioners suggested in their letter that “Ms. Sander’s privileged status as the wife of a powerful United States Senator seems to have inoculated her from the robust underwriting that would have uncovered the apparent fraudulent donation claims she made.
Burlington College’s final president, Carol Moore, asked in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “What bank lends a small, private, unendowed college of that size and financial status an amount that so obviously outweighs its ability to repay?” She added that the bank was ‘in the state of an influential senator –a senator, as it turned out, with bigger ambitions.
The Vermont Educational and Health Buildings Finance Agency, a state entity that issues tax-exempt debt, helped Burlington College secure the bank loan. Its then-board member Tom Pelham said in 2016 that while “I didn’t see, nor did anyone see, nor were there any accusations of strong arming,” he thought that ‘if this had been some other thinly financed entity that was making the presentation, it might have gotten more scrutiny.” Two other board members said Mrs. Sander’s connections weren’t a factor.
Mr. Sander’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment. In 2016 a Sanders spokes person told local press the allegations in the parishioners’ letter were “recycled, discredited garbage.” The Sanders camp now says the feds have closed the Burlington College investigation and aren’t filing charges, though prosecutors won’t confirm or deny that claim.
By the way, Burlington College’s financial disclosures show that between 2009 and 2011 the school paid more that $328,000 to enroll students in a woodworking school run by Carina Driscoll, Mrs. Sander’s daughter and Mr. Sander’s stepdaughter. Ms. Moore later described the arrangement as “a Sweetheart deal” and told VTDigger.org the woodworking school was “gouging the college.”
And though Mr. Sanders campaigned in 2016 on the promise of free college, Burlington College’s tuition rose from $14,170 to $22,410 during Mrs. Sander’s seven-year tenure, according to U.S. News & World Report’s data.
Mrs. Sanders would wield significant policy influence in a Sanders White House, as Hillary Clinton did as first lady. At the very least the Burlington failure shows financial incompetence and a tendency toward nepotism. Sounds a lot like socialism.