Bernie Is Not Telling The Truth About Campaign Donations

This week Hillary Clinton responded to a heckler accusing her of taking campaign money from the fossil fuel industry by saying she was tired of the Sanders campaign lying about her. Her response went viral on social media, and was covered by cable news.

Sanders response was to once again accuse her of taking corporate money -- something he claims he does not do. He was being disingenuous at best, and lying at worst. He was simply not telling the truth, and he knows it. He does it because he knows many of his supporters will accept whatever he says without any fact-checking.

I don't blame Hillary Clinton for being angry. She should be angry. Sanders told everyone last year that he would run a positive campaign, but that didn't last very long. He has been making accusations of campaign fundraising improprieties by Clinton for months now. And that's just dirty campaigning, because those accusations are NOT true.

Here is the truth:

* Neither Clinton nor Sanders has received any campaign donations from corporations, interest groups, or unions. Such donations would be illegal. Only individuals may donate to a presidential campaign.

* The maximum amount any individual can donate to a campaign is $2700.

* Over 90% of the donations made to both the Clinton and Sanders campaign were in amounts of $100 or less.

* Neither the Clinton nor the Sanders campaigns have the ability (or the desire) to refuse individual campaign donations because of where the donor might work. And there's no reason they should do that. It not inconceivable that an individual with progressive opinions could work for a Wall Street firm, a fossil fuel producer, a defense contractor, or any other corporation.

* "Bundling" is where a person, on behalf of a campaign, collects individual donations for that campaign. It is not illegal, and all candidates, including Bernie, are happy to receive bundled donations.

* Both Bernie and Hillary have several super-PACs supporting their campaigns. Neither can control who donates to those super-PACs or how that money is spent. It is against the law for a candidate to try to do that.

Bernie is demanding an apology for Hillary's remark about him lying. That's ridiculous! He owes Clinton an apology, because he was lying (and continues to do so).

(NOTE -- The caricature of Sanders above is by DonkeyHotey.)