Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and his wife of 27 years have funneled thousands of campaign and non-profit dollars toward family members and friends, according to an investigation by the
Washington Free Beacon.
Reports show that between 2000 and 2004, Sander's spouse, Jane O'Meara Sanders and his stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll, took sizeable salaries from Sanders' House campaigns with O'Meara Sanders being paid "more than $90,000 for consulting and ad placement services" and Driscoll receiving $65,000.
Although it is not uncommon for campaigns to include family members, the payouts in this case are in question after O'Meara Sanders' tenure as the president of the Burlington College.
According the Free Beacon, during her time as president of Burlington, the college paid nearly $500,000 to the Vermont Woodworking School, run by Driscoll, for classes.
In addition to that, the college also paid tens of thousands of dollars to an all-inclusive Caribbean resort run by Jonathan Leopold, the son of a family friend, for a study-abroad program.
The Free Beacon notes that after O'Meara Sanders stepped down from president of the college, the payments to the woodworking school and the Caribbean resort quickly came to a halt.
Vanity Fair notes that Sanders' wife was not known for "fiscal responsibility while president of Burlington" as she allegedly overstated pledge donations while filing a loan with the Burlington Diocese of the Catholic Church and forced them to reportedly eat a loss of up to $2 million.
The Washington Free Beacon notes that the Sanders campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
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