| Jane Sanders, via Burlington College |
No real surprise to me. Sorry, Berners, Berners thinking about becoming Greens, etc.
I had speculated on these pages more than once last year if Jane, when president of the college, was trading on Bernie's name when trying to raise a big loan for glorious dreams of the college's future. And, given it closed suddenly last May, Bernie's lucky he wasn't nominated; media might have started nosing around this issue more at that time.
As for that investigation? It's unclear and unknown if it's still ongoing or not, what future actions might result or not, etc. I would venture there's still loose ends since the principals involved won't say there aren't, per quotes in the piece. Getcha popcorn!
It is interesting that the investigation, per Burlington's board president, appears to have started before the college's official announcement of closure. Bradley Toensing's records request must have been treated fairly seriously from near the start — which could bring in a Barack Obama angle and/or a Hillary Clinton one, as well as the GOP one driven by Toensing — getcha popcorn, round two!
Also per these pages in the past, I've suspected Jane was a fair part of the impetus behind Bernie's run, and in addition to his own political animalism, may have been part of the impetus behind his political shifts from the 1980s to today.
Politics is blood sport, per James Stewart. Bernie's deal-cutting with the Vermont Democratic Party in the past shows he knows this well.
That said, do I think she did anything illegal? Very likely not.
Something unethical, whether by official college ethics standards or everyday ones? Possibly.
Something fiscally dumb, and that she knew it at the time? Yes.
