2016 Postmortem

bigtree

(85,998 posts) Tue Feb 23, 2016, 10:43 PM Feb 2016

Sanders' campaign admits to lying their asses off in a fundraising email

SophieCT ‏@SophieInCT 4h4 hours ago
Bernie Sanders' campaign admits to lying their asses off in a fundraising email @CNNPolitics http://cnn.it/1QBuKVc

Columbia, South Carolina (CNN) Bernie Sanders' campaign will clarify an incorrect fundraising email they sent Tuesday morning that claimed Hillary Clinton's campaign was charging "some donors" $27,000 to attend a fundraiser in Los Angeles on Monday night.

"It's no exaggeration to say this is the most important stretch of our campaign," reads the email. "Secretary Clinton's supporters are responding: her campaign is holding at least a dozen high-dollar fundraisers this week, including one last night where some donors paid $27,000 to attend."

Dan Merica @danmericaCNN
This Sanders fundraising email flat out isn't true: None of Clinton's events yesterday cost $27,000 to attend.

After sending the email Tuesday, Mike Casca, Sanders' rapid response spokesman, acknowledged the email needed clarification.

"Our supporters are really fired up about Clinton's high-dollar fundraising, so when we send another fundraising email about it tonight we'll be sure to clarify that the high-dollar donors 'bundled' instead of 'donated' $27,000, which is more than the annual salary of a worker making $12 per hour," Casca said.

Clinton capped off a six-event, two-day fundraising swing through California with a gathering at the Hancock Park home of Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Jon Vein. Goldsmith-Vein is a movie producer and entertainment executive and Vein is the co-founder and CEO of MarketShare.

According to invites, the top ticket price for the fundraiser was $2,700, the legal max for primary donations. Event hosts raised $27,000, meaning they invited enough people to the event to break that threshold.

The event was solely a fundraiser for Hillary for America, Clinton's campaign, not the Hillary Victory Fund, Clinton's joint effort with the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties, or Priorities USA, Clinton's high-dollar super PAC, according to Josh Schwerin, a Clinton spokesman.

No donors paid $27,000, he added.

Initially, the Sanders campaign stood by their fundraising email, with Casca tweeting a shrugging emoji next to bags of money and a picture of the event invite that notes hosts "raise $27,000."

¯_(ツ _/¯ pic.twitter.com/3xiuwPDWDx
— mike casca (@cascamike) February 23, 2016

Michael Briggs, Sanders' spokesman, also sent a similar invite to CNN, noting the fact that hosts raised $27,000.

"We relied on media reports that said her top donors at the fundraisers 'donated' $27,000," Casca wrote in a later email, linking to two incorrect media reports from CBS and ABC local news stations in Los Angeles.

Sanders, however, has headlined a fundraiser in Los Angeles. In October, the Vermont senator attended a reception at the Beverly Hills home of Linda and Syd Leibovitch. According to an invite, $2,700 was the top ticket price but co-hosts were asked to "raise" $10,000 per person, using the same terminology that Clinton had used for similar events.

read: http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/politics/bernie-sanders-email-fundraising-clarification/index.html

Garance Franke-Ruta ‏@thegarance 9h9 hours ago
Sanders team defends fundraising email CNN reporter says is untrue.

Jo Lown ‏@JLownLaw 4h4 hours ago
Explanation for false amount in Sanders' email doesn't pass smell test b/c his campaign reports amounts the same way http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/politics/bernie-sanders-email-fundraising-clarification/index.html …