"Why would many, many
billionaires be contributing to candidates if they didn't think they were
getting something out of it?"
Monday, December 16, 2019
Just as images emerged of 2020
Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg dining with wealthy donors at a high-dollar
weekend fundraiser, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday delivered a fresh indictment
of a "rotten" system in which the wealthy back candidates in order to
buy access and influence.
Sanders, in comments to CBS
News, took
a critical view of the super-rich donating large sums to political
campaigns.
"Why would many, many
billionaires be contributing to candidates if they didn't think they were
getting something out of it?" said Sanders. "They're not doing it
through the goodness of their hearts."
Buttigieg, whose campaign had
already by 2019's third quarter attracted
the support of 39 billionaires, came under fire from progressives on
social media after pictures surfaced from a fundraiser on Sunday in Napa,
California's Hall Rutherford wine caves which appeared to show the mayor
dining with elites.
The Associated Press described the
scene of the dinner in an article Friday:
The Hall Rutherford wine caves
in the hills of California's Napa Valley boast a chandelier with 1,500
Swarovski crystals, an onyx banquet table to reflect its luminescence, and
bottles of cabernet sauvignon that sell for as much as $900.
It is also where Pete
Buttigieg, the Democratic presidential candidate, will dine privately with
donors following a Sunday fundraiser hosted by Craig and Kathryn Hall, the
winery's billionaire owners, according to an invitation obtained by The
Associated Press.
"Looks like a really
good Black Mirror episode about the luxurious life in a billionaire's
bunker as a climate apocalypse unfolds up on the surface," said Sanders
speechwriter David Sirota.
According
to Recode, a separate Buttigieg fundraiser on Monday was expected to
be attended by a who's-who of Silicon Valley's powerful:
A host list circulated to
prospective donors for an event on Monday morning in Palo Alto, California,
features individuals with family ties to some of the most prominent people in
Big Tech. Netflix CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings is listed as a co-host of
the event, as is Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin;
Wendy Schmidt, the wife of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; and Michelle
Sandberg, the sister of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, sources say.
On Saturday, Buttigieg faced
tough questions from labor reporter Mike Elk, who asked the mayor to disavow
Monday fundraiser host Hastings over the CEO's support for charter schools.
Buttigieg declined to do so, claiming that his positions would not be affected
by big money.
In his comments to CBS
News, Sanders expressed doubt that billionaire donors get nothing for their
cash.
"I think what history
tells us is that the big donors, the people who make large contributions, do
get access," said Sanders. "They get tax breaks, they get
deregulated. That's the way the unfortunate system is working."
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