Profiles in Corruption by Peter Schweizer

Author:Peter Schweizer
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780062897923
Publisher: HarperCollins

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One of the most curious and mysterious elements of Bernie Sanders is the movement of funds and his efforts to obscure the flow of money, whether into his political operation or his own pocket.

For a U.S. senator, there is really only one legal way to supplement your income. Formerly, politicians could take speaking fees—as Sanders did when he was mayor of Burlington. In 1991, Congress halted this practice of self-enrichment, at least for members of Congress.107 As Bernie Sanders realized, a U.S. senator can boost their income by writing books.

Sanders dismisses criticisms of his newfound wealth as an author. “I wrote a best-selling book,” he told the New York Times. “If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.”108

Sanders, however, has not just written a book. Indeed, while sitting in the U.S. Senate, he has been one of that body’s most prolific authors, penning more books than anyone except for the late John McCain. (In contrast to Sanders, McCain donated a portion of the proceeds of his book sales to charity.)109 Indeed, during his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Sanders has actually written more books than he has written successful and substantive pieces of legislation. According to the U.S. government’s GovTrack, Sanders had passed seven pieces of legislation over the course of his entire career in Washington, spanning close to thirty years. Two of those pieces of legislation were the naming of post offices and one was to declare a “Vermont Bicentennial Day.”110

In contrast, between 2015 and 2019 alone, Sanders released three new books: Where We Go from Here (2018), Our Revolution (2016), and Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution (2017). In 2015, he also rereleased a previous book with a new title: Outsider in the White House.111 In one instance, Bernie did not even write the book; Nation Books transcribed and published one of his long speeches on the Senate floor and appropriately titled it The Speech. Then his campaign committee, Sanders for Senate, paid Nation’s parent publisher, Perseus Books, more than $60,000 to purchase copies.112 The campaign then gave the books to supporters for donations. The Bernie 2016 campaign also paid Verso Books more than $440,000 for copies of his book Outsider in the White House.113

As Sanders’s book sales have boomed, his book advances have ballooned. He received a $795,000 advance for his book Our Revolution. He earned another $63,750 for his teen book titled Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution.114 (Teen Vogue shared an “exclusive” sneak peek with its readers, calling his tome “Your Next Beach Read.”)115

Sanders pockets profits from his book sales as the law and Senate rules allow. As a result, Bernie and Jane’s annual income in 2016 and 2017 topped $1 million.116

Critics note that while Sanders once railed against “millionaires and billionaires” in his speeches, he has now seemed to drop references to millionaires as he has joined their ranks. He now goes after just the billionaire class.117 Still, Sanders tries to obscure the fact that he has become wealthy because of his position as a U.

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