During the campaign season, an analysis from the Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler put some numbers to what it would cost to fund Bernie Sanders’ “democratic” socialist agenda: eighteen trillion over a ten year period (in addition to what the federal government is already projected to spend).
It goes without saying that such a radical proposal would bankrupt the country – and the taxes Bernie proposed to raise to pay for it wouldn’t come close to funding it (and would cause severe economic contractions in the process). And surprisingly, had be won the election, he wouldn’t be the first president in his family to bankrupt an institution.
From 2004-2011 (when she was ousted), Bernie’s wife Jane O’Meara Sanders held the position of president at Burlington College – which became a point of interest after that college closed in May 2016 (while Bernie was still in the race) due to “crushing debt,” incurred over Mrs. Sanders’ tenure. At a press conference regarding the closure, the final Burlington College president Carol Moore declined to answer questions over whether or not feds were investigating the circumstances that led to their demise.
She was quiet for a reason: they were.
Five people formerly associated with Burlington College have confirmed that they were contacted, interviewed and, in some cases, subpoenaed by federal authorities over the past 15 months. While much about the inquiry remains shrouded in mystery, documents and interviews suggest that it is a serious criminal investigation focused on a $6.5 million bank loan application the college made in 2010 to pay for a $10 million lakeside campus.
The investigation appears to stem from a January 2016 complaint filed by Vermont Republican Party vice chair Brady Toensing on behalf of Catholic parishioner Wendy Wilton, a conservative activist and Rutland City treasurer. Toensing alleged that O’Meara Sanders committed federal loan fraud by inflating the number of fundraising commitments she had secured to buy the 32-acre North Avenue campus from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington. When those donations failed to materialize, the college defaulted on its loans — costing the church, which financed a portion of the sale, between $1.6 million and $2 million.
According to Carol Moore, an FBI agent contacted her “three of four weeks ago,” regarding the “ongoing investigation.” The conclusion of the investigation will boil down to whether or not Mrs. Sanders committed loan fraud. While she claimed that Burling College had guaranteed $2.6 million in future gifts and grants to payback the loans, they only realized $676,000 of that over the following four years.
To her credit, it’s quite likely she didn’t knowingly do anything wrong – she could just be as godawful at budgeting as her husband.
H/T Seven Days
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