Subject: **ICYMI: MSNBC | Bernie Sanders a Regular at Luxurious DSCC Fundraising Retreats**
From: Adrienne Elrod <[email-masked]>
To: Adrienne Elrod <[email-masked]>
Cc: Alexandria Phillips <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 18:17:59 -0500
List-Id: <toptalkers.hillaryclinton.com>

MSNBC
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bernie-sanders-regular-luxurious-dscc-fundraising-retreats>:
Bernie Sanders a regular at luxurious DSCC fundraising retreats
02/09/16 04:10 PM
facebook
By Alex Seitz-Wald <http://www.msnbc.com/byline/alex-seitz-wald>

During his 10 years on the Senate, Bernie Sanders has been a regular
presence at luxurious Democratic fundraising retreats, according to more
than a half-dozen lobbyists, donors and former Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee staff members with whom he attended the events. Sanders
most recently appeared at one last July, shortly after he announced his
presidential run.

Sanders’ connection to the DSCC has become a issue in his heated primary
contest, with front-runner Hillary Clinton, who has struggled to explain
her close ties to Wall Street and the large speaking fees she’s been paid
by Goldman Sachs and other banks. Sanders has made Clinton’s relationships
with the financial industry a key point of contrast on the campaign trail.

*RELATED: Bernie Sanders suddenly looks like a winner
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bernie-sanders-suddenly-looking-and-sounding-front-runner>*

Clinton has tried to push back, accusing Sanders of both failing to help
fellow Democrats and of failing to meet the high-bar he set for himself on
being independent of special interests.

The Sanders campaign is all about smashing the alleged stranglehold
corporate power has on politics, and the candidate himself frequently touts
that his insurgent run is funded by small donations, not wealthy people or
outside groups.

It’s been an effective message, and one pro-Clinton forces have tried to
muddy by calling attention to Sanders’ ties to the DSCC, which is financed
in large part by industry PACs. The DSCC used its financial and political
power to bolster Sanders and urge Democrats not to challenge him in his
2006 Senate bid, and spent close to $200,000 through various means to aid
his election.
Bill Clinton said this week that he “practically fell out of my chair” when
he read reports that Sanders had attended the DSCC’s summer donor retreats
on Martha’s Vineyard, and Hillary Clinton said Sanders took Wall Street
cash “not directly, but through the Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee.”

The Sanders campaign fired back
<https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-campaign-statement-on-clinton-falsehoods/>
by
calling the charge “disturbing,” “dishonest” and “beyond preposterous,”
noting the DSCC also receives small donations and is hardly exclusively
funded by Wall Street.

Still, the party committee would wither without its largest donors,
including industry lobbyists and wealthy individuals, who are feted at
semi-annual DSCC retreats on Martha’s Vineyard and in Palm Beach, Florida,
which always feature a large group of Democratic senators who are brought
to schmooze with donors. Sanders has been one of the more frequent
attendees since entering the Senate in 2007, including two last year, once
before and once after he declared his run.

The private events attract around 150 to 200 guests, according to a former
DSCC staff member, about half of whom are lobbyists and half are large
individual donors. To attend, guests had to donate the federal maximum
(currently $33,400 a year) to the DSCC, or raise $100,000.

Sanders is an independent who caucuses with Democrats. Like the other
Democratic senators, Sanders has participated in breakfast meetings and
small breakout sessions where one or two lawmakers would meet with groups
of guests to mingle and talk shop.

*RELATED: Sanders ‘not leaving anything on the table’ in New Hampshire
<http://www.msnbc.com/kate-snow/watch/sanders-not-leaving-anything-on-the-table-in-nh-618730051782>*

Sanders was relaxed and seemed happy to be at the events, according to the
attendees, and mostly made small talk, largely steering clear of policy.
None said they heard him chastise Wall Street banks, pharmaceutical
companies or petrochemical companies – his frequent targets on the campaign
trail – to the faces of the lobbyists representing those interests, though
it’s possible it occurred privately.

Some guests said they were surprised to see the populist crusader at these
lavish events and suggested he was probably in it for the free vacation.

Senators are flown on a private plane chartered by the DSCC to the
retreats, which are held at five-star resorts like the Ritz Carlton.
Sanders was often spotted at the pool, walking on the beach, and at the
buffet line. He went on a boat ride off Martha’s Vineyard organized by the
committee.

Sanders was even once spotted chatting sociably for close to an hour with a
financial services lobbyist who was in a hot tub while the senator sat
nearby.

Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver brushed off the candidate’s presence
at the retreats, noting that guests did not only include financial services
industry lobbyists, but also representatives of organized and other
progressive constituency groups.

“These are not like Wall Street only events. They represent a much broader
range of Democratic supporters,” Weaver told MSNBC.

A guest list obtained by MSNBC
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sanders-campaign-finance-purity-not-always-possible>
from
the 2007 Martha’s Vineyard retreat does show a mix of attendees, though
labor unions and constituency groups are a minority. “He certainly never
lobbied or asked any financial people for money,” Weaver added.

During his 2006 Senate race, Sanders received at least $7,500 directly from
lobbyists with ties to the financial industry, including JPMorgan Chase,
Citigroup and Visa, as well some energy companies like the American
Petroleum Institute.

Weaver dismissed the $7,500 as nothing compared to the $44.1 million he
said Clinton has received from donors tied to the financial industry over
her entire career. “The truth of the money of the matter is that $7,500 is
about equal to 30 seconds of her speech to eBay,” Weaver said of the
reported$315,000
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clinton-was-paid-millions-by-tech-industry-for-speeches/2015/05/18/f149d598-fd86-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html?postshare=4751431998482115>
Clinton
made on a speech to the online auction giant last year.

-- 

Adrienne K. Elrod
Director of Strategic Communications & Surrogates
Hillary For America
*www.hillaryclinton.com <http://www.hillaryclinton.com>*
@adrienneelrod

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