Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
2018 flashback: Warren has own wine story
Critics see unfairness in attack on Buttigieg
WASHINGTON — On a Saturday evening in June 2018, supporters of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren gathered at the City Winery Boston for a fundraiser.
They were treated to songs by Grammy-winning artist Melissa Etheridge and heard remarks from Warren, who was months away from announcing her campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. For donors who gave at least $1,000, there was also a gift: a souvenir wine bottle.
In Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate in Los Angeles, Warren lit into rival Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for attending a fundraiser in Napa Valley where he dined and sipped under a chandelier with Swarovski crystals.
“Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States,” Warren said. Later, she added, “I do not sell access to my time.”
As a White House contender, Warren has made a conversion to spurn big-dollar donor events like the one in Boston. But some see her transition from a prolific force on the donor circuit to a presidential hopeful who has tried to curb others from doing much the same as less than noble.
“Challenge Pete on everything from his age and experience to his record in South Bend,” said Rufus Gifford, former finance director for President Barack Obama’s campaign. “I think that’s totally fair. But this is just disingenuous. It implies a level of corruption and cronyism that is inaccurate and ultimately plays into the hands of Republicans.”
Even after her pledge not to hold private fundraisers, Warren has continued to attend the very kind of events for which she has criticized others. She has headlined fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee in settings that raise handsome sums, and she said she would continue to do that if she were the nominee, so that Democrats would not be at a financial disadvantage against President Donald Trump.
Alix Ritchie, who has donated more than $20,000 to Warren, said she had co-hosted events and attended others. “Many of the events for her that I went to were on the Cape in the summer,” said Ritchie, formerly the publisher of the Provincetown Banner newspaper. “They would have wine and some kind of finger food. It’s pretty standard. It wasn’t any different from what other people do. She raised money the way every candidate raises money.”
Campaigning Saturday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Warren had no comment about her high-dollar fundraisers as a Senate candidate but said she decided not to allow such access as a candidate for president.
“I saw how the system worked, and I decided when I got into the presidential race that I wanted to do better than that,” she said when reporters asked her about The Associated Press report on her Boston fundraiser. “And that’s why I just quit doing it.”
Warren also declined to say whether she would release the names of influential donors who helped bundle contributions from others during her Senate campaigns.
“What matters is which way we’re pushing this thing,” she said. “This is about what we’re doing now, and the conflicts we’re creating right now.” In other campaign news:
■ The Napa Valley winemakers who hosted a dinner at a “wine cave” for Buttigieg are defending the fundraising event.
Craig and Kathryn Hall, who own the Hall Rutherford winery, said they took issue with how their facility has been portrayed. “It seems someone’s intentionally trying to create a different image than the reality,” Craig Hall said.
■ A Minnesota voter frustrated because Trump would be the only name on the state Republican primary ballot in March is challenging the move.
Jim Martin, a small-business operator and political independent, filed a lawsuit over the primary rules, the Star Tribune reported. He said he doesn’t want to participate in a “Soviet-style” election.