He got tens of thousands every year, the same as the rest of the Senators.
He has claimed over and over again he doesn't raise money from Wall Street banks. This information demonstrates that claim to be false. He hosted fundraisers, brought in and received money.
He is also benefiting from more Super Pac and dark money spending than Clinton, this despite his misleading claim "I don't have super pacs." In the last debate, he announced "we decided not to do a Super Pac." Such statements assume Americans neither know nor care about campaign finance law. It falsely implies that candidates directly form Super Pacs, when that is in fact illegal. It also ignores the fact that his campaign does in fact benefit from Super Pacs and authorized PACs. One Super Pac formed in order to promote Sanders is run by a former Sanders campaign Staffer.
But Sanders hasn't always ruled out super PAC support. And, like many of his foes, he's likely to get a little help from a super PAC run by a friend and former campaign aide.
When Sanders last ran for reelection, in 2012, then-Seven Days political columnist Andy Bromage asked if he'd "ever accept help from a super PAC."
"I certainly would prefer not to," Sanders responded, calling it "a hypothetical question."
"But we can chat about it if, six months from now, many, many millions of dollars are coming in attacking me," he said in the February 2012 interview.
"If it was a last resort?" Bromage pressed.
"That's something we would look at," Sanders said, adding that he hoped he wouldn't have to.
Ah. So the senator opposes super PACs unless they're necessary to win?
Indeed. Just a week before the interview, President Barack Obama's aides announced that he would accept support from a major Democratic super PAC, Priorities USA Action, in his 2012 reelection race. Sanders defended the president's choice at the time.
"Should you be principled and allow your opponent to spend huge sums of money and you say, 'Well, I'm a principled guy and we're going to get outspent 5-to-1, and I'm going to lose the election?'" the senator asked.
http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/sanders-shifting-stance-on-super-pacs/Content?oid=2759783 The Atlantic reports, "Bernie Sanders Super Pacs."
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/bernie-sanders-super-pac/420930/
Nor will he tell them not to spend money on his behalf.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/23/politics/bernie-sanders-super-pac-nurses/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-super-pacs_us_56548429e4b0879a5b0c6ccd
Now, people may say a union super pac is okay and one funded by George Soros isn't. They are still Super Pacs, and Sanders has sworn time and time against that he "doesn't have Super Pacs"--a technically true statement for him, just as it is for Clinton, Bush, Cruz or anyone else because candidates do not form or "do" Super Pacs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee
He also benefits from more dark money and Super Pac spending that any candidate in the race, in part because Karl Rove's American Crossroads is commitment to ensuring Sanders be the GOP's opponent in the general election.
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/20/bernie-sanders-gets-some-outside-help-he-didnt-ask-for/?_r=0
The problem is systemic. It's subverts democracy at all levels, and pretending it is about one candidate not taking "super pacs" or certain kinds of money (especially when there is evidence that claim isn't true) trivializes it. It takes a systemic problem and reduces it to an opportunistic political slogan. I find his statement incredible and that, combined with what I see as a series of empty campaign promises, is why I find him incredible.
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Unsurprisingly, your response is to post a meme, the internet equivalent of the bumper sticker. You would do well to keep in mind you are not conversing with someone who is persuaded by sloganeering or memes.
One key difference between Clinton and Sanders is that Clinton doesn't pretend to be above the current campaign system. She doesn't repeatedly make claims that play to the ignorance of voters about campaign finance, or work to convince them that the issue is about personal integrity, when the candidate himself doesn't live up to those claims. Clinton abides by current campaign law and proposes to change it through the Supreme Court and legislation banning dark money.
Meanwhile, Sanders doesn't even follow existing campaign finance law.
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/12/f-e-c-tells-sanders-campaign-that-some-donors-may-have-given-too-much/?_r=3
The Federal Election Commission has asked the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to re-examine contributions from more than a hundred donors who appear to have given more than the legally permissible amount.
The vast majority of the donors gave several small contributions to Mr. Sanders for the Democratic primary that eventually totaled more than the $2,700 limit, according to a letter the election commission sent to Mr. Sanders on Thursday.
Such glitches are common in political campaigns, which are required to track small donors and begin itemizing their contributions when their total reaches $200. That can be harder when donors use slightly different variations of their names or contribute from more than one address. Mr. Sanders’s campaign may choose to refund the excess contributions or re-designate the excess for use in a general election campaign, when candidates can accept another $2,700.
The FEC letter is here:
http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/988/201602110300034988/201602110300034988.pdf
This is the second FEC inquiry into Sanders in this election cycle for failing to abide by simple reporting criteria. The first involved an affiliated PAC run by a Sanders staffer. Despite having been chartered in 2004, it failed to file the required quarterly disclosure of donors in 2015 and was fined as a result.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/04/bernie-sanders-campaign-finance_n_7724766.html
Here we have a candidate who repeatedly claims he doesn't raise money from Wall Street firms, when he clearly has. His campaign and associated PACs don't follow existing and all too meager campaign finance law, yet we are to believe he is the only one who will reform the system. The argument strains credulity.
I prefer a candidate who doesn't repeatedly make false statements about her fundraising and actually follows the law, while recognizing that the system needs to be changed. Whereas many Sanders supporters repeat his slogans and show no concern about what he actually does. Politicians will say anything, and the more people let them get away with it, the more empty claims they make. Sanders has built an entire presidential campaign around that very premise. Responses by his supporters here show they aren't concerned with his actual fundraising record or Super PAC and dark money expenditures on his behalf. Undeterred, you all continue to repeat the same slogans, even when presented with evidence that proves the claims false. Ultimately I believe that is because too many care far more about speeches than action, prefer a president who tells them what they want to here and accomplishes nothing than one who accomplishes a good bit but doesn't feed into their anger.
I find it unfortunate, but I can't convince others to care about accomplishments or policy. I will, however, point out false claims when I see them.
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