Burlington mayoral candidate Carina Driscoll received the endorsement of a political organization launched by her stepfather, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
The Washington, D.C.-based Our Revolution announced its support for Driscoll in a press release Friday that praised her experience and political approach. “If elected, Carina will push for more transparent government, protect community assets, and invest in Burlington schools,” the release read.
Driscoll is going up against Democratic incumbent Miro Weinberger and independent Infinite Culcleasure in the Burlington mayoral race.
Both Driscoll and an Our Revolution spokeswoman denied that the endorsement constituted nepotism.
“Senator Sanders is the inspiration for our organization, but he has no involvement in the day-to-day workings,” said Diane May, the group’s communications director. “If our board selected Carina, that’s because they felt she was the best candidate based on the issues that are important to them.”
Driscoll, too, said Our Revolution operates with “no control or influence exerted by Bernie.”
Driscoll has been working to separate her political credentials from her parents, both of whom have an outsize influence on the Queen City. Sanders served as Burlington mayor from 1981 to 1989 and Driscoll’s mother, Jane O’Meara Sanders, spent time as president of the now-defunct Burlington College — a role for which she’s received renewed scrutiny.
Driscoll has said that she will not accept fundraising help directly from Sanders.
She did seek the Our Revolution endorsement, but noted that she also asked for endorsements from other organizations, including Democracy for America, which is based in the Burlington area. “As an independent without major party support, the endorsements … are especially important important for candidacies like mine,” she said.
Sanders launched Our Revolution in 2016, with a mission to “elect progressive candidates” running for office at the municipal, state and federal levels. Driscoll is running as an independent but received the endorsement of the Burlington Progressive Party.
Driscoll is also endorsed by Rights & Democracy, the designated local group for Our Revolution. The local endorsements are reviewed and selected by the national Our Revolution board, which typically endorses about 100 local candidates a year nationwide, according to May.
Sanders plays no official role in the organization, but the group’s board includes his former chief of staff and University of Vermont professor Huck Gutman, among other notable names.
Our Revolution will send “get out the vote” text messages on behalf of local candidates, and in some cases, will provide both local and national fundraising help on behalf of the candidates they endorse, May said.
May said she didn’t know whether Our Revolution would send out a national fundraising email on Driscoll’s behalf.
Driscoll said she would accept such help from Our Revolution — if it’s offered. “I’m grateful for any effort to validate or support our campaign,” she said, adding that it is “not up to us.”
Related Stories
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Well, its nice to know what it takes for Sanders to support women: they just need to be related to him.
“Sanders Organization ‘Our Revolution’ Endorses Driscoll for Burlington Mayor”
Shocked! I’m shocked I tell you!
And why would anyone “endorse” this candidate? What exactly are they endorsing? What is her actual platform? Who knows? She only talks about vague, meaningless, feel-good things like “inclusiveness” and “community engagement.” Gimme a break. There’s no there there.
The reason for this endorsement, and Rights & Democracy, and the Progressive Party, and any other left-wing endorsement she may get, is for one reason: she’s Bernie’s stepdaughter.
Commenter 1: Actually, she is not technically related to him in the DNA sense but I get your attempted point.
Commenter 2: Please provide an address where I can send you some cheese.
“Sanders Organization ‘Our Revolution’ Endorses Driscoll for Burlington Mayor”
Shocked! I’m shocked I tell you!
I agree. After the way Weinberger so readily endorsed Bernie in his presidential run I would have figured Bernie would have returned the favor.
Culcleasure and Driscoll will split the Left vote and we wind up again with the Neo-liberal Real estate Huckster, so it’s Full Speed ahead for gentrification and over development and overpopulating the city. The GOP doesn’t need to run a candidate as Miro is giving them everything they want.
“After the way Weinberger so readily endorsed Bernie in his presidential run I would have figured Bernie would have returned the favor.”
That’s an interesting comment you make, because Bernie, Carina, and everyone involved vehemently deny that Bernie has any control over Our Revolution. I don’t believe it and apparently either do you.
I’ve been a strong supporter of Bernie Sanders and Our Revolution. Thanks to the organization’s nepotism and endorsement of Jane Sanders’ daughter I now question its credibility and will immediately cease my support and question every candidate they endorse. There are lots of friends and relatives out there looking for political favors from the Sanders family.
How about waiting until the FBI completes its investigation of Jane Sanders’ involvement in the demise of an entire swath of valuable Burlington waterfront, along with the motivation behind giving her daughter Carina Driscoll a ridiculously overpaid position to teach a woodworking shop class at a financially struggling college?
Leaving behind the half million dollars Driscoll got through her position at the now bankrupt Burlington College, the daughter is seeking another highly paid position on the public dime. No thanks! When will we learn not to vote for children wishing to win political office on the coattails of their parents?
And while Ms. Driscoll was reportedly complaining that she couldn’t afford to pay her property taxes in Burlington . . . she was being bankrolled by Bernie and her mom.
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/arc…
“Please look at Carina Driscoll’s property tax records for the year she bought and remodeled her Scarff Ave home. Somehow when it came time to pay her property taxes surprise surprise she turned her pockets inside out and said oh, woe is me, I only make 40k a year, rebate all of my tax money.”
http://investmentwatchblog.com/bernie-sand…
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/261386/…
Bernie learned how to rig an election from Hillary so now he is going to put those lessons to work in the Burlington mayoral race. If that works he might run again in 2020.
#timetovotethebaldguysout
And keep his step-daughter out.
Carina Driscoll couldn’t fund her own startup business “VT Woodworking” back in 2006 so she turned to her mom who readily forked over hundreds of thousands of student tuition dollars from poorly funded Burlington College (which was well into the millions over a ten year run). Now, she turns to Bernie Sanders and “Our Revolution” for national support and funding because it appears the people in Burlington, VT are onto the grift. Of course, it shouldn’t surprise anyone as the Sanders are also bankrolling her brother David Driscoll who is now running “The Sanders Institute” (a position is he eminently qualified to run after being in the snowboarding business his entire career…?) It’s time for Burlington residents to tell Carina to grow up and it’s time for the Sanders grift in VT to come to an end. Support Weinberger.
Sanders has made quite a career of throwing pablum to the addlebrained like those of Our Revolution, why should we expect different out of Driscoll?
Carina Driscoll for Mayor!!!!
Now the BTV mayor’s race will be suffering form outside cash infusions. Didn’t Ol’Bernardo rail against this? Oh wait it is for one of his family so it is OK.
All the anti-Carina comments here seem to be by those who don’t like Bernie. Surprise, surprise! There are those of us who remember how inclusive and transparent this city was when Bernie and Pete Clavelle ran it, when everybody felt they could be heard and the city was praised nationwide for its civic involvement. Some of us think those were pretty good years, and that Carina, with her political background as a state rep and her business background as a small business owner, might be just the ticket to bring back the halcyon days of yore. But in this time of nastiness and partisanship of an ugly nature, alternative facts flow easily to dampen the discussion. Congratulations, Burlington. You’ve succumbed to the Trump disease.
What I want to know is what’s the scheme? Something up with her running for mayor is mommy dearest going to be appointed to some office?? Hope it’s not the treasury department of Burlington…Just saying !!!!
MAN for a democratic socialist, the Russians that apparently read and comment on this news outlet’s articles REALLY hate Sanders.
I guess that means he’s a viable threat to their control…