Vermont senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has paid his bill for a campaign stop he made in National City last year, weeks before the California presidential primary.
After more than a year of owing $28,337.28 for a campaign rally held at Kimball Park in May 2016, the Bernie Sanders campaign has finally paid up.
Deputy City Manager Stacey Stevenson said getting what was owed them was not easy.
After the Sanders campaign pulled a temporary use permit for city services, Sanders failed to pay his bill.
In an attempt to collect payment, the city sent two delinquent notices to Sanders’ campaign in July 2016. Those notices went unanswered and were shortly followed up with a demand letter, which the Sanders’ campaign neglected.
Finally, the National City City Council took matters into their own hands when they unanimously voted on Aug. 1 to file a lawsuit against the Bernie Sanders campaign, prompting the campaign to finally open its checkbook and pay a total including fees and interest of $32,156.99.
“I was contacted by the Sanders’ campaign attorney (Brad Deutsch) on Aug. 24. As a result of your news article reporting the City Council’s decision to file a lawsuit against the Sander’s campaign, on Oct. 4, 2017, the city was paid in full,” National City City Attorney Angil Morris Jones told The Star-News.
The payment was made to Financial Credit Network, a collections agency the city hired to file the lawsuit in Vermont, the site of Sanders’ campaign.
A vice president with the collections agency confirmed payment to the city in an Oct.4 email: “We got a certified check today from the Bernie Sanders campaign! Paid in full. We will be posting today and you will see on your October statement. Nice present on a Wednesday afternoon,” the email said.
Financial Credit Network will receive $7,717.67 for their services.
Stevenson said the natural process is for the city to collect payment before an event, but because this event was unique and had to be done in three days, the city agreed to collect payment afterward.
“The city of National City is vey much committed to the Democratic process,” she said. “We were pleased to be a part of the presidential election process by hosting a rally. But regardless of event, we owe it to the community and our taxpayers to collect any fees that are due from the event.”
She said the city might have to reconsider how it handles its policy for temporary use permits that ask to pay after an event.
Stevenson said the city is happy that Sanders no longer has a debt.
“We are pleased that they followed up on a commitment to bring a presidential rally to National City and are also pleased that they followed up on their commitment to pay the fees associated with their event,” she said.
Sanders’ Senate office directed media calls to his campagn office. They did not respond to requests for comment.
