In a letter sent Sunday to U.S. Attorney Eric Miller, Vermont Republican Party vice chair Brady Toensing alleged that O’Meara Sanders made material misstatements in a 2010 loan application when the college was seeking to purchase a 32-acre campus. Citing stories published by VTDigger.org and two conservative websites, Toensing accused O’Meara Sanders of overstating by nearly $2 million the amount of money donors had committed to finance the acquisition.
“The evidence indicates that Ms. Sanders, as president of the college, successfully and intentionally engaged in a fraudulent scheme to actively conceal and misrepresent material facts from a federal financial institution,” he wrote.
Toensing filed the complaint on behalf of Rutland City Treasurer Wendy Wilton, the 2012 Republican nominee for state treasurer, and “other aggrieved Vermont parishioners” of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington. The diocese, which previously owned the 32-acre plot overlooking Lake Champlain, lost between $1.5 million and $2 million when the college failed to repay a $3.65 million loan to the church, according to VTDigger.
The complaint comes just three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, in which Sen. Sanders is competing for the Democratic presidential nomination. A spokesman for the senator said Monday in a written statement that Toensing’s letter was politically motivated, calling it “recycled, discredited garbage.”
“As Bernie gains in national polls showing him defeating Republican presidential candidates, it is not surprising that Republican operatives are slinging mud at him and his family,” the spokesman, Michael Briggs, said. “These kinds of attacks on family members of candidates are one of the reasons why the American people are so disgusted with politics in America today.”
Wilton did not return a call seeking comment Monday. In a phone interview, Toensing said his complaint was not politically motivated and that he had no interest in damaging Sanders’ presidential prospects.
“No, I don’t care. As a Republican, I would love to have Bernie as the nominee,” he said. “He’d be perfect. He has no national appeal. If I could pull the switch and make him the Democratic nominee, I’d pull it.”
Rather, Toensing said he was motivated by concern for Burlington College and the Catholic Church. But the diocese doesn’t appear to be asking for Toensing’s or Wilton’s assistance.
“We don’t obviously want to get involved in any political battle involving presidential candidates,” Bishop Christopher Coyne told Vermont Public Radio on Monday. “We’re not pushing this at all.”
O’Meara Sanders has faced scrutiny over her tenure at Burlington College ever since she was ousted as its president in September 2011 and given a $200,000 severance package. That scrutiny only increased when the campus expansion she oversaw nearly resulted in its financial collapse in late 2014. The college eventually had to sell off much of its lakefront property to a developer to repay $10 million worth of loans.
In order to borrow the money in the first place, Burlington College had to demonstrate that it had at least $2.27 million in pledged contributions. But as Seven Days reported in June 2015, little of that money ever materialized. Two people whose pledged contributions were included in the college’s loan application told VTDigger in September 2015 that they believed their pledges were overstated.
In his plea to federal officials to investigate the matter, Toensing argued that “the public harm in this case is substantial and should be part of your decision whether to open an investigation or to pursue charges.”
“Ms. Sanders and her husband have built political careers pontificating against corporate corruption and claiming to want to help the needy,” he wrote.”The [diocese’] loss of $2 million as a result of Ms. Sanders’ apparent misconduct will materially detract from [its] charitable work and cause significant harm to vulnerable Vermonters.”
Miller, the U.S. attorney, said in a statement Monday that his office “does not comment on public requests to conduct criminal investigations.”
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Rather, Toensing said he was motivated by concern for Burlington College and the Catholic Church. But the diocese doesn’t appear to be asking for Toensing’s or Wilton’s assistance.
You don’t suppose that this is nothing more than a partisan act designed to hurt Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign?
Interesting timing on the part of the Republican party.
Why should she get away with what she did..she lied about the amount that people pledged..But you know Damn well there won’t be a investigation …because of Bernie Sanders..the Democrats will cover it up, stop the investigation right off..She lied, she stole, the amount was $250.000.00 not $200.000…the church should had follow up with charges..but being the wife of the Senator..it was sweep under the rug…If it had been anyone else there would be charges brought..
Doubt that the Catholic Church wants to publicly revisit their loss, I.e., settlement with the victims of clergy abuse
In the media again. It seems as if Burlington College has worked very hard and figured out ways to get themselves on track to move forward toward a successful future.
This attack is just GOP politics and is beneath most Vermonters.
beneath most Vermonters !!! Yeah right.. It’s the liberals who want to keep this hush hush..not the GOPs..The liberals want to protect the liar thief, Jane Sanders..I for one don’t believe protecting a liar who’s a thief..they should be held accountable..
Just because the Church doesn’t want to revisit their sins and the Republicans want to embarrass the Dems doesn’t mean that Jane Sanders isn’t a thief . At best she is an incompetent who drove Burlington College to the brink of ruin with her grandiose plans then compounding this by grabbing what money she could while going out the door .
Most importantly what does this have to do with Bernie .Beats me. Are we our Jane’s keeper ?
Donna, I don’t believe for a second that this is the GOP being deeply concerned and wanting to get to the truth.
I remember hearing about this news last year, before Bernie was running. The GOP was dead silent. Then it was settled, and again, the GOP was silent.
Well suddenly it’s the start of 2016 and Bernie’s doing good in the primary polls. Real good. Threateningly good, too, as he can apparently beat out all of the GOP candidates in polls. NOW the GOP suddenly pounces and demands a federal investigation, when the timing could not be more right for the media to report on it and wield it to discredit Bernie.
Here’s the problem: he’s running against Hillary, who has a serious elephant in the room by way of her husband. The media ain’t about to report on Bernie’s wife, because then it’s open season time on Bill.
And, for another addition: GOP and Democrats, or Republicans and Democrats. Not “liberals”. If you’re going to call them liberals, call the other side conservatives. I get that each party has tried to make it seem like they are squeaky clean and flawless while the other side is corrupt, but be honest with yourself: both parties are quagmires of corruption. Time to take the blinders off and critically analyze why the GOP dragged their feet this long to suddenly care about Jane Sanders.
Well Matt , the problem with your analysis is that the person with the most to gain with Janegate is , wait for it , HILLARY ! All serious politicos realize that Bernie has a “best by” date not so different then Ben Carson . Billary knows she can win the election in a walk , a pantsuit trot if you will . She first needs to get rid of that grumpy old man .
So is Hillary pushing this investigation ? Fox News says yes ! Think of it , they get to report this story and imply she is behind it . Two lefty birds with one smear . Brilliant ! Maybe I can be their source .
Nice mudslinging tactics! But they are not welcome here.
It is about revealing the truth.
I know, it is hard to accept the truth sometime. Just like Church case revealed by Boston Globe.
It was like swallowing bitter pills. At the end people were happy.
Now it is time to know who Sanders’s really are.
Seems like Sanders’s fans are so united to protecting their Queen
so some of you think tha they republicans in VT are trying to help Hillary? Genius!