Vermont Poisoned Press: The original plot to stop Bernie Sanders ... and why it didn't work

[Donkees]

By Greg Guma

Apr 14 2019

Excerpts:

The dirty tricks began right after the shocking election that made Bernie Sanders mayor of Burlington in March 1981. Within days, a new “underground newspaper” was launched in the city. But you couldn’t get it at a newsstand, or anywhere public. And the content was designed to discredit rather than inform.

At first considered no more than a nuisance, the Flea Press gradually began to look more threatening. It was making red baiting acceptable. At times other media outlets even began to sound a bit like the publication that mocked them. When Sanders debated City Council members about his proposed appointees, for example, the Burlington Free Press described them as a “tight cadre of comrades.”

For almost six months, theories circulated about who was behind the weekly slander sheet. It had to be someone close to city affairs, in fact someone who had mourned with the Democrats on election night. Close analysis of Flea Press content revealed attendance at budget meetings and other city functions, along with deep contempt for neighborhood groups and the local press.

But few knew the truth. That is, until a paste-up of page two was left behind on a copier only blocks from City Hall.

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WARNING! shouted the headline of a full-page ad in the Free Press. If Bernie won a second term, it charged, the consequences would be dire.

It was a desperate move that suggested Sanders’ leadership would produce everything from higher electric bills to more unemployment. And it turned out to be a major tactical mistake. Burlington voters had seen him and other progressives in action for two years, and rejected the hysteria and negativity. On March 1, Bernie Sanders won a clear majority of 52% in a three-way race. Progressive politics was in Burlington to stay.

Reflecting on his first victory in 1981, Sanders concluded, “I think we had pretty much of a class vote.” Almost 40 years later, it remains to be seen whether national Democratic leaders are more open and inclusive than local Democrats were after Sanders’ first win. If they are, the rest of the country could get to cast a class vote of its own.

https://vtdigger.org/2019/04/14/poisoned-press-original-plot-stop-bernie-sanders-didnt-work/