Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Sanders' Pattern of Deceptive Campaigning Continues

Having long since abandoned his promise to run a positive campaign, Bernie Sanders has launched yet another misleading mailer, claiming the support of someone who has not endorsed him. This pattern of deceptive campaign tactics has been repeatedly called out by news outlets and fact checkers, yet we keep seeing more from the Sanders campaign. It's time for them to stop this deceptive campaigning once and for all.

"It seems the Sanders campaign has shifted from insulting and dismissing people who don't support him to falsely claiming their support. Despite being called on deceptive campaign tactics and misleading ads for weeks now, Sanders has now chosen to mislead voters on a veteran and veterans' group's support. Enough is enough—voters deserve better." – Communications Director Jen Palmieri

Here's a rundown of what we know so far:

2/7/16: Using Images of Veterans in Ads Without Permission

Valley News: Sanders Scored Over Use of Photos

• "With just days before the New Hampshire primary, the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., is taking heat from Upper Valley residents who say his campaign used their images on mailers without their permission."

• When American Legion state officer Tom Wiley, of Canaan, was called by the Legion's top officer in New Hampshire, Wiley didn't know what it was about, but he said the tone of state Cmdr. John Graham made it clear something was wrong.  "He called me, quite straightforwardly, and asked me, had I endorsed any candidate," Wiley said Saturday. "He asked specifically about Bernie."

• "The Legion's national offices in Indianapolis quickly turned up a second Sanders campaign flier featuring Holland's image. According to Wiley, Philip B. Onderdonk, the Legion's national judge advocate, asked the Sanders campaign to stop using the images, though John Raughter, a national spokesman, declined to comment on the matter, other than to reiterate the Legion's avoidance of political stances."

2/7/16: Using The Image of the Clergy in Ads Without Permission

Valley News: Sanders Scored Over Use of Photos

• The Rev. Stephen R. Silver, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, had an experience similar to Wiley's.  Silver and his 9-year-old son, a Boy Scout, participated in the Veterans Day parade, and posed for a picture with Sanders during the event.  Silver said he was not asked to sign a release form, and had no idea that a picture featuring the three — Silver, his son and Sanders — would be prominently featured in a campaign mailer that he said has been mailed all throughout the state. Silver said the appearance that he endorses Sanders, or any political candidate, compromises his ability to minister to church members.

• "I know in our church, we have Democrats, we have Republicans, we have independent voters. They're all there," he said. "I want them to know that they can all feel comfortable coming to me."  After learning his face was on the Sanders mailer, Silver said, he clarified his role to Sunday churchgoers. He also wrote a letter to the Valley News and put a posting on Facebook.  "I do not wish to be seen offering my support to any particular candidate and have asked the Sanders campaign to cease and desist from using this image, in any form, immediately," Silver wrote in the letter.

2/4/16: In TV Ad, Falsely Touting Endorsements He Didn't Receive From New Hampshire Newspapers

• Time: Sanders Campaign Ad Misleadingly Suggests Endorsements A new ad for Bernie Sanders set to play in New Hampshire appears to suggest that two regional newspapers have endorsed the Vermont Senator when in fact, they have not…The editor of the Telegraph, Roger Carroll, said that the paper did not endorse Sanders and called the Sanders ad "deceptive.

• Factcheck.org: Sanders' Deceptive Endorsement Ad: "The Bernie Sanders campaign misappropriates the credibility of two New Hampshire newspapers in a new TV ad that boasts of his endorsements for the Democratic presidential nomination. The ad, titled "Endorsed," leaves the misleading impression that the Nashua Telegraph and the Valley News endorsed him. They did not. [...] The Sanders campaign is repeating a pattern — first misappropriating the credibility of the Des Moines Register in Iowa and now the Nashua Telegraph and the Valley News in New Hampshire."

• Politifact: Bernie Sanders ad claims or implies endorsements from New Hampshire newspapers: "A Bernie Sanders political ad said he had been endorsed by the Valley News newspaper and implied he had been endorsed by The Telegraph of Nashua. [...] We rate the ad's claim False."

1/29/16: In TV Ad, Falsely Touting Endorsement of Des Moines Register When The Paper Actually Endorsed Hillary Clinton

• New York Times: Bernie Sanders Trumpets Iowa Paper's Praise. Unsaid? It Endorsed Hillary Clinton  "The ad trumpets the endorsements Mr. Sanders has received ... But sandwiched between The Nation's endorsement and one from the The Daily Nonpareil, the local newspaper in Council Bluffs, Iowa, is a quotation from the state's largest newspaper. "The Des Moines Register calls him 'a man of courage and principle,'" the narrator says. That praise did not come in an endorsement of Mr. Sanders, however. It came in The Register's editorial endorsing Mr. Sanders's rival, Hillary Clinton. The editorial did shower Mr. Sanders with praise, but it came down in favor of Mrs. Clinton's candidacy – which even careful viewers would have no way of knowing."

1/28/16: Campaign Staffers Posing As Union Members To Deceptively Gain Access to Union Dining Halls

• Ralston Reports: Sanders workers are masquerading as Culinary members to campaign inside hotels  Operatives from Bernie Sanders' campaign have donned Culinary union pins and secured access to employee areas inside Strip hotels to try to garner votes for the Feb. 20 caucus, sources confirm.

• Culinary officials have been made aware of the faux union workers at four hotels -- The Rio, Paris, The Mirage and Planet Hollywood. The Sanders campaigners are wearing the distinctive yellow Local 226 pins, implying they are union members, to gain access to employee dining rooms. Beyond the obvious deception, union officials surely also are concerned about the implication that the organization has endorsed Sanders despite its recent pledge to remain neutral until after the caucus.

1/28/16: In Mailers, Falsely Implying Endorsements From AARP and League of Conservation Voters

• MSNBC: "Team Sanders was also accused yesterday of sending out misleading mailers with the AARP logo, which was used without permission."

• Newsweek: Advocacy Groups Call Foul On Sanders Campaign In Iowa, Nevada  "Sanders's campaign in Iowa has included League of Conservation Voters and AARP logos in recent mailers it's sent to prospective caucusgoers, a subtle effort to tie himself to those groups, if not implying an endorsement. But neither group has backed him. The AARP, which represents retirees, does not endorse candidates, and the League of Conservative Voters, an environmental advocacy group, is supporting Sanders's Democratic foe, Hillary Clinton."

• Quartz: Bernie Sanders' campaign is getting nailed for some unethical shenanigans "But as Sanders puts more pressure on Clinton, some cracks are emerging in his campaign's image, raising questions that first came up when Sanders staffers accessed data belonging to the Clinton campaign due to a computer glitch.This week, the Vermont senator's campaign included the logos of the AARP and the League of Conservation Voters in mailers it sent out to Iowa voters, without the groups' permission. The AARP is non-partisan and does not support specific candidates, and the League of Conservation Voters has actually endorsed Sanders' rival, Hillary Clinton."