Sanders Institute founded by Sanders' wife, son is shutting down

[TomCADem]

Here is just another example of how Bernie Sanders has been given a largely free pass by the media due to his strategy of yelling "BIAS" at the most gentle amount of criticism. Remember how Bernie attacked foundations run by candidates as a way to gain influence and campaign contributions? Well, that sure did not keep Bernie from running a foundation with his wife and son.

If Bernie was running against Bernie, he would be attacking the foundation for failing to disclose its donors as well as who was on the foundation's payroll.

https://apnews.com/9e4794da89ab448399f3ff1457464d1b

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The Sanders Institute, a think tank founded by Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ wife and son, is shutting down, at least for now, amid criticism that the nonprofit has blurred the lines between family, fundraising and campaigning.

The Vermont-based institute has stopped accepting donations and plans to suspend all operations by the end of May “so there could not even be an appearance of impropriety,” Jane Sanders told The Associated Press. The unexpected move by the institute’s board of directors comes as Bernie Sanders, a leading candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination, prepares for a wave of intense scrutiny into his political network and his family’s role in its operation.

As a candidate in 2016, Sanders criticized Hillary Clinton over her family’s nonprofit, saying the foundation run by Clinton’s husband and daughter amounted to a back door for foreign leaders and others seeking to buy access and influence. The Sanders Institute could open the Vermont senator to charges of hypocrisy.

The institute was founded to promote liberal policies less than two years ago by Sanders’ family with the backing of pro-Sanders celebrities and advocates— though Sanders himself had no formal role. While it operates at a fraction of the scale of the Clinton Foundation, it has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars during its brief existence and has declined to disclose its donors.

[NurseJackie]

1. Why wouldn't they disclose? Why won't they disclose?

it has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars during its brief existence and has declined to disclose its donors.

Why wouldn't they disclose? Why won't they disclose? What exactly was their purpose (other than giving the son a steady paycheck) what exactly did they do? I think it's much too late to escape the accusations of hypocrisy seeing that they've vehemently demanded "transparency" from others, yet won't do the same. Is the process of shutting down simply a way to avoid having to make those types of disclosures and letting their donors continue to hide?

All I'm saying is... what's good for one is good for the other. Why won't they disclose? That just makes me want to know even more urgently than previously. It's probably "nothing"... but if so, then why hide it? I think we can all agree that it looks suspicious and their refusal to be transparent is only going to raise eyebrows.

The American voters deserve to know the truth. That's not too much to ask. I think we can all agree on that.

[TomCADem]

2. 'We Find Ourselves Excluded': Racial Justice Leaders Ask Bernie Sanders 'To Get With The Program'

Bernie used his foundation as a backdoor vehicle to campaign without disclosing donors without actually benefiting those he said he was helping. For example, the foundation held a "grassroots" gathering on racial and social justice in his home state of Vermont. Notably absent? Any Vermont civil rights leaders who were not invited to the event.

https://www.vpr.org/post/we-find-ourselves-excluded-racial-justice-leaders-ask-bernie-sanders-get-program#stream/0

As Bernie Sanders seeks to broaden his national appeal among the black and Latino voters who would be critical to his success in a 2020 presidential campaign, the white senator from Vermont is struggling to improve a complicated relationship with racial justice leaders in his own backyard.

In an open letter to Sanders and an institute that now bears his name, more than a dozen racial and social justice advocates from across the state write that they’ve been “excluded” from the “national progressive movement that Senator Bernie Sanders is trying to foster.”

The flashpoint for this latest conflict between Sanders and prominent Vermonters of color came last week, when the Sanders Institute hosted a three-day “gathering” in Burlington that convened progressive luminaries from around the world.

Notably absent from the event, according to signatories of the open letter to Sanders, were the racial justice leaders from Vermont who have been working for decades on the civil rights issues the event sought to address.

[betsuni]

3. K&R

[Tarheel_Dem]

4. Sounds like another jobs program for family members. The Sanders family does quite a bit...

of finger-pointing, so yeah....hypocrisy seems to be an appropriate term for what's going on.