Jane Sanders talks Bernie, politics and winning

Jane O'Meara Sanders traveled across the country with her husband, Bernie Sanders, as he launched his long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

She stood calmly beside Vermont's independent senator when Black Lives Matter protesters disrupted recent campaign events, even preventing him from speaking at a Seattle rally.

She was with the candidate in Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington and California, as the self-described democratic socialist surprised pundits by drawing the largest crowds of any 2016 hopeful.

"I think that people are not saying that it's not possible that he can win as president, which is surprising that it's coming so early," she said. "We've always known that. If you are standing up to what the majority of people believe and you intend to follow through why can't you. If not him, who? If not now, when?"

While Sanders has supported her husband's political ambition throughout their 27-year marriage, she was reluctant to embark on this presidential run.

She said they agonized for weeks about the decision.

"We had been back and forth, back and forth," she said. "I know how ugly politics can be. And our grandchildren, we want to spend some time with them and our kids."

As the Sanders debated their future on April 18 over breakfast at a South Burlington Denny's, a disabled veteran approached their table to thank the senator for the help his office provided in securing benefits.

Sanders' eyes welled with tears as she recalled what the man said next: "You've changed my life and if you run for president, I think that would be the best thing for the country."

As the man left, she remembered saying to her husband, "Okay, I think you have to do it."

Though she's watchedher husband repeatedly exceed expectation, her first lesson in dogged determination happened long before she met Bernie Sanders and he eked out a 10-vote win to become Burlington's mayor in 1981.

As a young girl, she watched her brother Ben O'Meara work his way from grooming horses at the stables near their home in Brooklyn to becoming a world-class horse trainer and jumper.

"Why it matters is that first of all he went after his dream and it became much bigger than he ever anticipated," the 64-year-old said during a recent interview at campaign headquarters, steps from Burlington City Hall where the Sanders' political journey began.

Ben O'Meara, the oldest of five children, quit high school to support his family. A lifelong horse enthusiast, he eventually bought a horse that was described by the Show Jumping Hall of Fame, to which he was inducted in 1989, as a "police department failure."

"He rode it and taught it how to jump and he won awards," Sanders said.

Through his success, Ben O'Meara was able to improve the family's lot.

When Sanders was young, her father spent many years in and out of the hospital. She said her father's health improved only after her older brother demanded their father receive better care and paid for it.

"So that was my political awakening of how much difference money makes," Sanders said. "And my inclination there was to change that and to make sure that other people who didn't have money didn't go through the same things."

Inside the political arena

Sanders shares an office with her husband at campaign headquarters in Burlington, their desks side by side. Her role seems to merge the personal and the political.

"Right now it's being with Bernie. Traveling with him. Supporting him. And thinking through policy and strategy with him," she said. "So basically really supporting Bernie both in the way I always have both as a life partner in a loving couple, but also as a political adviser."

Sanders' proximity to politics has exposed her to public criticism. In particular, she has faced questions about her presidency at Burlington College, a private liberal arts school that has been plagued by financial troubles and sagging enrollment.

She served as president of the college from 2004 until 2011, when she resigned under pressure from the board of trustees. She walked away with a payment of $200,000.

In September 2014, Vermont business owner Skip Vallee, who has recently been tapped to serve as the state's campaign chairman for Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio, launched an attack ad against the Sanders that characterized the payment as a "golden parachute."

At the time, Bernie Sanders' spokesman stated that Vallee had "crawled into the gutter" and defended the payment as "standard practice in academia."

The latter assertion squares with a survey reported in June by Inside Higher Ed that 67 percent of college and university presidents have severance agreements in place.

In a recent interview, Sanders noted that under her leadership the college added nine majors and acquired 32 acres on the shores of Lake Champlain.

"We moved it substantially along," she said.

She added that problems ensued when leadership changed on the board of trustees.

"I'm very entrepreneurial and that was very obvious throughout the whole period, and that succeeded throughout the whole period," she said. "I'm also very not corporate in terms of how we treat people, in terms of how we handle things. The new leadership on the board had a different style."

When reached by phone, Adam Dantzcher, chairman of the board of trustees at the time, declined to comment.

“I understand people make a big deal of it,” she said, in terms of the college not doing as well as she had expected them to do after she left.

When asked what she learned from the experience, she responded, "I need to work with people who share the same ideals, the same principles."

She noted that working on her husband's campaign fulfills that need.

Campaign bumps

When asked about her husband's ability to compete against the fundraising power of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-funner, Sanders seemed undaunted.

"We've been outspent many, many, many times," she said.

She noted that her husband's campaign has taken off faster than either of them expected.

She said one marked moment occurred as they arrived in Minneapolis with field director, Phil Fiermonte. She described seeing blocks of people lined up to enter the campaign event on May 31, less than a week after the campaign kicked off.

She recalled her husband saying, "Whoa! Are we competing with something Phil?" and Fiermonte's reply, "I think that's you, Bern."

An estimated 5,000 people showed up for that event, a number that would be dwarfed by the turnout for his latest West Coast rallies.

Sanders admitted the campaign's momentum has exceeded their staffing levels, leaving some eager volunteers waiting for directives. But she said they were working to build up staff and organizing through social media could help make up the difference.

She also said her husband is committed to a 50-state strategy, which means campaigning in states that have strong Republican bases.

This approach has taken the couple "everywhere" over the past three months, Sanders said.

In recent weeks, their campaign events have also served as protest venues for Black Lives Matter activists.

"Bernie was taken aback, he was surprised," Sanders said, referring to the demonstration at the Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix on July 18. "But then recognized immediately that they're shouting because they're angry for a good reason…And we need to address those concerns."

Two days after this interview, Sanders stood beside her husband as protesters took over the microphone at a campaign event in Seattle. That same day, the Sanders campaign announced hiring Symone Sanders, a black criminal justice advocate, as its national press secretary.

If they win

Jane Sanders said it's too soon to plan what she would do if her husband did win, but she would have a bridge-building approach to the first ladyship.

"I'd be more likely to build the bridges to the people we don't see eye to eye with," she said. "I'm not a policy wonk. I'm a researcher. I'm a thinker. I think with empathy ... It's more looking out at the people. And that includes the Republicans, you know that people that might be opposed to us. Trying to understand why is it that they want what they want. And then how do we find common ground."

But there are limits to her empathy.

"I mean sometimes there is no common ground to be had if it's only about profit," she added.

Sanders also said that she could imagine taking on a role similar to running the Mayor's Youth Office, which her husband started after becoming Burlington's mayor.

Annual City reports list among the office's accomplishments the establishment of a sliding scale daycare program, a certified kindergarten, a teen center, a youth newspaper, a summer food service program and various art education activities.

"It's a little different than what we've seen," she said. "You know Hillary was very much a political strategist with Bill Clinton. It's quite different."

Selene Colburn, a Progressive City Council member representing Burlington's East District, said that she benefited from teen programs that the Mayor's Youth Office offered.

"I really feel like my involvement with Mayor's Youth is a huge part of my involvement in civic engagement and why I'm a City Councilor today," the 46-year-old said.

Colburn, who was a dancer, said that she participated in performance opportunities and reported for the youth newspaper.

"What was happening at the Mayor's Youth Office was weaving in with the punk rock scene that was happening in the 80s in Burlington," she said. "The Mayor's Youth Office was the thing that pulled us all together. That to me is the really great legacy that happened there."

Colburn said participating in those programs sparked her commitment to civic engagement and that she could imagine such programs working well in communities across the country.

Sanders traces her interest in helping others back to her brother, her parents and her Catholic upbringing.

Her relationship with Catholicism was tested when Ben O'Meara, the brother who had such a profound influence on her life, died in a 1966 plane crash at age 27.

"I think that as many Catholics, you have a complicated relationship with the church," she said. "When my brother died, I felt like there couldn't be a God. I just felt that way and for a couple of years, I just felt turned away from the church."

She credits Pope John XXIII's message of unity and cooperation as bringing her back to the church. Though she doesn't go to church on Sundays, she said that if she has a problem she heads to St. Anne's Shrine, a pilgrimage site in the Champlain Islands.

She added that she also admires Pope Francis.

"Whether it's a church or politics or a corporation or a college or anywhere, leadership matters," she said.

Add to the list of people she admires: her husband.

"I have seen Bernie deliver for the people that need him, no matter who the people were," she said. "And always, he does what is right. I still admire and respect him and look up to him. I'm mean it's kind of interesting to be inspired by someone you've been married to and been with for over 30 years."

Correction: Jane O'Meara Sanders and Bernie Sanders discussed a presidential run over breakfast at Denny's in South Burlington. An earlier version of the story misstated the mealtime.

Clarification: Jane Sanders said that after she left Burlington College, the school did not do as well as she had expected. After publication, Sanders clarified that her statement referred to the school's performance after she resigned.

Contact Emilie Stigliani at 660-1897 or estigliani@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/EmilieStigliani.

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