Sanders campaign ‘honored’ by $500K support from super-PAC

The Bernie Sanders presidential campaign says it is “honored” to receive more than $500,000 in support from a nurses union super-PAC, saying the independent financial backing in no way contradicts the Vermont senator’s opposition to big-money politics.

“We are honored to have the support of National Nurses United,” said Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver, responding to a report by the Sunlight Foundation — a group that tracks money in politics — that reveals the super-PAC has already spent $569,000 helping Sanders this primary season.

{mosads}Sanders has made it a point of pride that he disavows all super-PAC money, and unlike the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, has not endorsed an unlimited spending group in support of his candidacy.

Getting support from the nurses’ super-PAC does not affect Sanders’s purity on the issue, his campaign suggested in an email.

“Unlike others, we have not started a super PAC, are not coordinating with a super PAC, and we have not fundraised for a super PAC,” Weaver wrote.

“We stand by our position that we do not want the help of a super PAC.”

The nurses’ union, says Weaver, understands “firsthand the need for health care reform in this country and which candidate as president would actually support single-payer health care for all and not attack it.” 

The Sunlight Foundation found that the nurses’ super-PAC has funded pro-Sanders advertising including online ads and printed materials that include “Bingo with Bernie” cards. 

The super-PAC has made significant buys helping Sanders in important early-voting states Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.