It was in April almost three years ago that Bernie Sanders to Seven Days. Since then, he鈥檚 pretty much refused.
I like Sen. Sanders鈥� policy positions, but otherwise, I tend to regard him as sometimes arrogant and always enigmatic.
After the paper he鈥檚 gone to not to talk to them, Sanders office kind of agreed to an interview as long as there were no questions about his family or what he called 鈥減olitical gossip.鈥�
When Seven Days political editor Paul Heintz explained that the paper has a policy not to agree to restrictions in order to get access, the Senator鈥檚 staff called off the interview, which had been supposed to happen after a Burlington airport news conference.
At the airport, Heintz chased the Senator down, asking if he鈥檇 ever give the paper another interview. But Sanders walked away, saying he wouldn鈥檛 speak to the paper about 鈥済ossip.鈥�
I think we鈥檇 find this behavior unacceptable with most public officials, but Sanders seems to be getting away with it.
I get it that his is probably because he hasn鈥檛 liked their coverage of him, particularly when it comes to stories about a federal investigation into his wife,
But I think the issues here are more complex than the senator鈥檚 relationship with just one newspaper.
In recent years,
I suspect his view is he doesn鈥檛 really need to, since his support in Vermont is, after all, pretty solid. And he鈥檚 now walking on a national stage, giving access to cable news and big papers,
So, one might argue that he no longer has a primary obligation to speak to reporters and news outlets in Vermont on a regular basis at all.
But I think he does.
And you know, I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 really complicated.
When we elect our state and local leaders, we have a right to expect them to talk directly to us 鈥� not filtered through CNN or MSNBC or the New York Times.
So speaking to all of our local and state media comes with the job.
And as long as he鈥檚 our Senator, he should take that part of the job seriously.
