Sanders loses luster amid inquiry into wife
WASHINGTON — A federal investigation into a long-ago land deal by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wife is threatening to take some of the luster off the senator’s populist appeal, attaching the phrase “bank fraud” to the biography of a politician practically sainted on the left for his stands against “millionaires and billionaires.”
Sanders, a Vermont independent, is still riding high on popularity from his presidential campaign.
But he has been shadowed by talk of a deepening investigation into his wife’s role in a 2010 land deal for a Vermont college that ultimately contributed to her ouster as its president. His wife, Jane Sanders, has hired a lawyer to represent her as federal authorities look into a $10 million sale of about 33 acres of lakefront property by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington to Burlington College. Jane Sanders was hoping to relocate and expand the institution.
The couple and many of their supporters maintain the investigation is politically motivated and that it was set in motion by the Vermont state chairman for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, Brady Toensing, who filed a complaint with the local U.S. attorney’s office in January 2016 on behalf of the diocese’s parishioners.
But the facts in the case do not fit well with Bernie Sanders’ populist image. The charges revolve around a $6.5 million bank loan obtained with a promise that college donors would quickly pay back at least $2.6 million of the debt. They did not, Jane Sanders was ousted, and the college went belly up.
Sanders fans and Democratic strategists agree the investigation, no matter its outcome, could be used by operatives in both parties to undermine the senator. Rival Democrats could use the case to try to wrest the progressive mantle from Bernie Sanders.
“Just the fact that this is hanging over them could be used,” said Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, a liberal organization formed by several people close to Sanders. “I would hope that voters would dig deeper, but sometimes people don’t. And they hear the word ‘FBI’ and it sends a shiver up and down people’s spines.”
But Stu Loeser, who owns a media strategy firm and was a longtime spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, said Sanders had missed his “once in a lifetime chance” to be president.
“His people are worried that his best days may be behind him,” Loeser said, “and they may be right. But that’s not going to be because of a paperwork [issue] regarding his wife.”
A federal law enforcement official, who declined to be identified because the matter was still under investigation, confirmed authorities have been looking into the land deal.
Jane Sanders is taking the investigation seriously and is worried that the Trump administration might not treat her fairly, said Jeff Weaver, who was Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign manager.