Yep, Sanders will have to disclose the Warriors tickets as a gift.

[RandySF]

Bernie Sanders, the self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist presidential candidate who has consistently railed against "the 1%" and Hillary Clinton for her purportedly cozy relationship with Wall Street, accepted his pricey seats for Monday night's Game 7 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors from a "private purchaser," his campaign said.

Sanders, who has been campaigning heavily in California ahead of the state's pivotal Democratic primary next Tuesday, was spotted at the highly anticipated NBA game, where floor seats — just a few rows in front of Sanders' — were being sold on the secondary market for as much as $29,000 each.

Sanders sat in section 108, row 15. According to ticket prices from the secondary market obtained by The Guardian, tickets in the row just in front of Sanders were selling for $1,648.95 apiece, while tickets in the row just behind Sanders were going for $1,750.28 each.

The overall average cost of a ticket for Monday's game, which the Warriors won, was $960, according to ESPN — making it the second-highest list price for an NBA Game 7 in the past five years.

The stiff price tag, however, didn't appear to bother Sanders, who has made both eliminating income inequality and limiting money's influence in politics centerpieces of his insurgent campaign. Sanders has also repeatedly and aggressively gone after Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, for not revealing the transcripts of paid speeches she delivered to Goldman Sachs after leaving the State Department.

But when asked by the Daily News how the Sanders campaign procured the expensive tickets, and whether they were purchased by the campaign or accepted as a gift, the Vermont senator's spokesman had few words.

"The tickets were privately purchased," campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sanders-pricey-game-tickets-privately-purchased-campaign-article-1.2655540

[Maru Kitteh]

1. He had to have them gifted, what with his cashflow problem and all.

[PowerToThePeople]

2. Or they could have used the money

to have Hillary speak to them for 45 seconds.

Game is much more entertaining imo.

[grossproffit]

3. Your "Never Hillary" avatar is despicable.

[PowerToThePeople]

4. Thank you.

You can use it if you want.

Did you create your handle by thinking of a Hillary banker speech?

[grossproffit]

11. This is why Bernie lost.

[PowerToThePeople]

12. Nice try.

[JTFrog]

20. There is an alert for offensive signature lines.

I assume that would work for avatars as well. They go directly to the Admin and they are pretty good at cleaning them up.

[840high]

14. Love your avatar.

[dchill]

31. Hey, nice avatar!

[jillan]

5. Oh FFS! Are you going to have your panties in a wad about this? I heard he was a guest.

Is he not allowed to be invited to go anywhere because he's not Hillary?

[azurnoir]

18. conversely was Hillary invited?

[baldguy]

27. Well, that's the thing about insisting on impossible standards of purity.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

40. No, he's not allowed to accepts gifts in excess of $49.99 in value

From the congressional handbook of rules:

The general rule is that you as an individual or your organization may make individual gifts of up to $49.99 in value to an elected official or their staff, up to a total of $99.99 in value per year.

He appears to have violated Senate ethics rules. By the way, who payed for the trip to Rome?

[okasha]

6. Upper limit on gifts is $50.00.

Single donor limited to $100.00 per year.

Either the Democratic Socialist crusader against thr 1% paid out of his own pocket or he accepted a gift way over the legal limit. He seems to have an ongoing problem with that kind of thing.

[RandySF]

9. I thought

He just had to report any gift with over $1,000.

[okasha]

13. The $50.00 limit applies across the board.

Any gift over the limit must be returned.

[Bohunk68]

51. So when is Hillary going to return her checks

from Wall Street since it is now claimed she made no speeches, ergo can't produce a transcript? Therefore they are not speaking fees but gifts.

[Sheepshank]

55. It's this type of entitlement, making up the rules that has hurt Bernie. Good, keep it up.

[okasha]

63. Was she a Senator or Secretary when she made those speeches?

No.


No problem.

[LiberalFighter]

7. Sanders will have to report the ticket as a campaign contribution.

Unless it can be shown that it was not campaign related. The person giving the ticket will also have to provide their information for filing purposes.

[Luminous Animal]

8. The campaign has said that Sanders paid with his own money directly from the team.

[840high]

15. Yes.

[azurnoir]

19. sssssh don't spoil it for them

[NWCorona]

10. This reminds me of when Michelle Obama was criticized for having on $300 sneakers

While no one said anything when Cindy McCain showed up to a ball with $500k in jewelry on.

Kinda like when Bernie was criticized for having lobster sliders while not realizing that just recently some deli meats costs more than lobsters.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

41. He was criticized for the tone deaf optics

Of eating lobster on his private plane when flying to Rome for an overnight trip, if you recall.

It wasn't the actually cost of the lobster. It was the hypocrisy of the act, as leader of his revolution against the 1%.

[lame54]

45. Hillareee 666?...

[HillareeeHillaraah]

47. Lol...I know. I just hit my 666th post

Ya gotta laugh, eh?

Good catch ~

[Ken Burch]

16. If he has to he will. He would anyway.

There's no issue here.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. I was informed by a fellow member of this board the seat couldn't have cost more than $300.00.

[RandySF]

21. Maybe face value

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. I didn't think you could lower bowl game seven playoff tickets for $300.00

Did you see where Bernard Sanders said if GSW can come back from 1-3 he can come back too... In his analogy the refs would have had to award GSW more points than they actually scored BECAUSE...

[RandySF]

25. I tried to look for Game 2 Finals tickets as my son's reward for a good school year.

The face value for the absolute worst seat over over $600 per ticket. That's more than his monthly tuition, so I think we'll pass on that. Most of us Clinton supporters don't rub shoulders with the 1%.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

29. He should have given his ticket to an actual fan who couldn't afford one.

I doubt he could pick Steph Curry and Andrew Bogut out of a line up.

[ljm2002]

35. "I doubt he could pick Steph Curry"...

..."and Andrew Bogut out of a line up."

You do know he played hoops in high school, right? And that he's still a darned good shot? IOW it is not unlikely at all that he takes an active interest in basketball, of all the sports out there.

[Luminous Animal]

22. The campaign claims he bought it directly from the team, so yes...

he may have paid $300

[Armstead]

23. My God. A $1500 campaign expenditure?!?

My God. It's Stadiumgate!

[RandySF]

26. I have yet to see one quote

that the campaign bought the tickets.

Briggs did not respond to repeated additional questions regarding how much the tickets cost and who the purchaser was.

Can you please show me a link?

[Armstead]

36. I really don't give a shit how he paid for it, so not gonna waste my time

On a scale of 1 to 10 regarding either campaign behavior or issues facing the world, this rates a -10

[Luminous Animal]

59. …..

“Nah, we never see celebrities up here. They usually get them seats way down there, courtside,” said May Ng, a Warriors season-ticket holder who sat behind Sanders and paid $285 for her seat. (The Sanders campaign declined to say how much it paid other than to say that it would be paid for personally by the senator and that the ticket was purchased from the team.)

http://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/Presidential-candidate-Bernie-Sanders-arrives-at-7953718.php

[RandySF]

64. Thank you. That's what I was looking for.

[ebayfool]

56. OP is quoting secondary market prices. IE scalper's prices.

A tempest in search of a teapot.

[pangaia]

28. I am sorry for your pain.

I hope you feel better in the morning.

[yallerdawg]

30. Jeff Weaver this morning was asked about this on Fox News.

The "curvy couch" asked him about this "socialist" lifestyle.

Weaver said, "Come on. Senator Sanders is one of the poorest senators in Congress" (since we haven't seen his complete tax return disclosures, we can assume he is one of the poorest "multi-millionaires" in Congress).

"What about that charter flight?"

Weaver said, "The Vatican had invited him to meet the pope to discuss income inequality which he did, and it was a campaign event because they took reporters with him."

And that menu?

"Come on. It was airline food. You know how bad that is."

[brooklynite]

32. I really think Weaver does more harm than good as Sanders' spokesman...

[RandySF]

34. So his Roman Holiday WAS political?

And he rewarded supporters by letting them tag along?

[lunamagica]

42. Still lying about the Pope inviting him to personally discuss income inequality.

Is it that Sanders can't even control the people who work for him? Or is it that he is in with the falsehoods?

[brooklynite]

33. I recall Sanders also snagged those impossible-to-get tickets to "Hamilton"...

...just like any ordinary theatergoer could.

[Armstead]

38. My God, is that the best you can do?

Jeezus, the cost of either a Broadway show or sports event is probably the equivalent of what's fallen below the cushions of one of Clinton's couches.

[EndElectoral]

37. Oh for Christs sake. HRC gets 250K speaking fees for half hour talks. If that's not a gift, what is

[RandySF]

39. Hillary is not a sitting US senator

Prohibited by Senate rules from taking gifts valued over $50.

[SpareribSP]

46. Oh come on.

Bernie Sanders definitely broke the law accepting an almost $2000 gift and didn't just buy the tickets

A ticket to a basketball game is equivalent to millions of dollars in speaking fees to investment banks

[HillareeeHillaraah]

48. Here's the difference:

A private citizen being paid a very high speaking fee: legal

A sitting senator accepting a gift worth more than $99: illegal


Black and white. Clear as day. No matter how much you dislike Clinton. No matter how much you revere Sanders.

One is legal. One is not.

[Bohunk68]

52. She has been claiming not to have spoken. That makes it all a gift.

[SpareribSP]

53. Please show me any proof he didn't just buy these himself.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

58. I agree. Sanders should be transparent and show that he bought them himself

and that neither the Hamilton tickets nor the basketball tickets were procured through an illegal gift or an inappropriate use of his status as a sitting Senator.

I'm just as interested as you in transparent proof.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

50. Him dropping out.....now that'd be a gift! n/t

[frylock]

43. Big fucking deal.

Talk about your nothing burgers.

[Orsino]

44. Except for their not having been a gift, of course.

Otherwise, you are quite correct.

[HillareeeHillaraah]

49. So he used the influence of his position as a famous Senator

To score impossible to get Hamilton tickets? And hard to get game 7 tickets?

See how you can take a perfectly innocent event and report is as more than a "nothing burger" ?

Frustratingly unfair, yes?

[azurnoir]

54. Why the concern about this ? why exert the time and energy ? we're told Bernie has lost

shouldn't spend time on things that really matter?

[RufusTFirefly]

57. He'll look into it. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

60. Clinton wasn't there? She could have bought 400 of those tickets for one hour's worth of work. n/t

[Vinca]

61. Why do some of you go out of your way to alienate Bernie supporters?

Without us in November, Hillary does not win. The way you post you'd think Hillary was chasing Bernie for the nomination, not the other way around. Who gives a rat's ass about tickets and whether they were or were not a gift?

[GreatGazoo]

62. You are going to put parody writers out of work with this stuff.

How does one write a parody of THIS ?!