Making the rounds today in almost every political sphere is the announcement that Burlington College is closing. Ordinarily, the closure of such a small, privately funded college in the small state of Vermont, would barely make waves beyond it’s geographic border, but this college had, at one time, a president who is now very visible: Jane Sanders, wife of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
As Jane has become more visible in her husband’s campaign, the attacks on her have increased. Some argue that because she is not running for president, this is not political news, but in truth, all political spouses in recent elections have come under scrutiny.
In the case of Burlington College, truthfulness and transparency, hallmarks of the Sanders campaign, are being questioned. When the college announced its closure, it specifically mentioned “crushing debt” from a $10 million loan for a land deal orchestrated by Dr. Sanders in 2010.
CNN has picked up a story from local Vermont publication, VTDigger, which is reporting that Jane Sanders mistated the amount of donations the college received to offset the cost of the land, and the proposed expansion of the college. The Vermont Educational and Health Building Financing Agency (VEHBFA) says it has no issue with the loan application as it was presented at the time.
Adding further intrigue is the curious response of Burlington College officials during the press conference announcing the closure of the college. The Atlantic, in a lengthy piece examining the troubles of Burlington College, reported on it:
Asked whether Jane Sanders was to blame for the closure, President Carol Moore and Dean Coralee Holm declined to answer, even as they acknowledged that that the college’s press release, in naming the land purchase as the reason for the closure, implicitly pointed a finger in her direction. Smith and Holm also declined to comment on whether there was a federal investigation into the college, or whether the FBI or other authorities had interviewed faculty, staff, or administrators, or if they’d sent any subpoenas. Those “no comments” may raise eyebrows, since it’s generally assumed that if the answer was no, administrators would simply have said so.
So far, Jane and Bernie Sanders have no comment.
Whether or not this story damages the credibility of Bernie Sanders in his bid to be the Democratic Party presidential nominee remains to be seen.
Whether or not the actions of a spouse of a candidate should be scrutinized by the media will probably always be disputed.
Featured image by Gage Skidmore available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
