Sanders Campaign Stiffs Small Town on Event Expenses

28 Jul, 2016 by Dave Blount

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Bernie Sanders ran on a promise to provide free everything to his supporters and force “the rich” and future generations to pay for it. Why would anyone expect a guy like that to make good on his own debts? Sorry, Cloverdale, California. Looks like you’ve been berned:

The mayor of Cloverdale hopes it’s just a misunderstanding, but the Bernie Sanders campaign appears to have left her small town with $23,000 in unpaid bills after it hosted their ‘A Future To Believe In’ rally last June.

According to The Press Democrat, the Sanders campaign paid Cloverdale a $2,500 deposit toward expenses. Despite assurances they’d pay the balance, their response to the city’s attempts to collect on an invoice is starting to sound like ‘the runaround.’

Cloverdale officials were given only 48 hours notice before the June 3 rally, and say they had no time to put together a formal contract. Still, the city was happy, even honored to oblige. Ultimately, the event was a huge success, drawing more than 6,000 supporters.

Cloverdale City Manager Paul Cayler says he submitted an invoice on June 23 that included overtime for four law enforcement agencies, and the four fire departments that worked the event. The Sanders campaign response referred them to the U.S. Secret Service for payment. When Cayler contacted the Secret Service, they told him they never pay “local public safety expenses related to a presidential candidate’s events.”

Efforts to get someone in the Sanders campaign to deal with it have, so far, been unsuccessful.