Ran across this link in JoelGP’s diary and someone asked for a diarist to publish it so here I am.
Bernie Sanders, the champion of small campaign donations and crusader against big money in politics, spent some valuable time at a posh fundraiser Wednesday night. The event was hosted by Syd and Linda Leibovitch, the owners of a large Los Angeles real estate business and big Democratic fundraisers.
The Beverly Hills fundraiser charged $250 to get in the door, and some of the guests donated the maximum allowed by law, $2,700, Sanders aides said. The event followed a small-dollar fundraiser earlier that day in Hollywood that was hyped by entertainer Seth McFarlane. Aides indicated that around $150,000 was collected at the Leibovitch affair. Read More...
I think it’s great that wealthy folks came and gave what to me is an astronomical sum of up to $2700 to elect Bernie. I really do. It’s how politics works, and it’s apparent that Bernie knows this as well. In no way do I mean to decry the passion of his supporters and their hard-earned money that they donated. Let me make that crystal clear.
However, I do think it’s just a bit disingenuous to suggest that your campaign is solely funded by small donations, while your opponent is bought and paid for by their large ones.
From Time Magazine back in December:
Since starting his campaign, one super PAC supporting Sanders has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a second has endorsed him. Separately, Sanders has hosted at least nine medium- to high-dollar, closed-door fundraisers in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere to directly fund his own presidential campaign. Even though Sanders’ efforts sometimes have a proletarian flair—he held one $200-per-ticket fundraiser at a dive bar near a grungy Seattle park—some aspects of the Democratic insurgent’s fundraising are similar to the candidates he condemns. Read More...
I realize that Hillary gets a much larger percentage of her funding from plutocrats. In the face of what Republicans will bring to the table, I’d say the money is more than welcome. Needed, in fact.
However, it’s become politics is a game and Bernie knows how to play it just like anyone else.
