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Bernie and Burlington College
The Editorial Board February 19, 2019
Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, June 7, 2016.Photo: jonathan alcorn/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Bernie Sanders said Tuesday he’s running for President again, and we trust this time no one will sell his chances short. Having come close to winning the Democratic nomination in 2016, the Vermont socialist should get the scrutiny he dodged last time.
Among 2020 contenders, only Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden rival Mr. Sanders for national name recognition, and only Mr. Biden is beating him in the polls. Mr. Sanders ended 2018 with some $9 million in his Senate campaign fund, another advantage in a crowded field.
But now Mr. Sanders is no longer the solo socialist. He lost to Hillary Clinton but shifted the Democratic Party left. The Democratic field is full of women and minorities now running on his Medicare for All proposal, which would eliminate private health insurance, and the Green New Deal. Mr. Sanders may discover at 77 years old that it’s a disadvantage to be white and male among Democrats.
Mr. Sanders has already had to apologize to women who worked for his campaign in 2016 and say they were harassed by male staffers. He can also expect more scrutiny for the dealings of his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, who has been his congressional chief of staff and remains among his most trusted advisers. Her tenure as president of Burlington College in Vermont deserves more attention in particular.
Mrs. Sanders left the school in 2011 with a $200,795 severance. In 2016 the college closed because of what it called the “crushing weight of debt†incurred on Mrs. Sanders’s watch. The college had purchased 32 acres of property from the Roman Catholic diocese for $10 million in 2010, though it began the year with less than $1.8 million in net assets.
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