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Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen


3.09.2007

 

Night at the Ritz

Rich Tarrant, the weathy IDX c0-founder and, more recently, defeated Senate candidate recently spent a night at the swank Ritz- Carlton Hotel in Naples, Fla.

No surprise there. The guy is a multi-millionaire.

But what if you knew that self-proclaimed Socialist and common-man champion Senator Bernie Sanders was also there -- on the very same night.

It's true. Tarrant gave me a call Friday to spin the tale of how he and wife, along with Richard Corley and his wife, had been patrons at the $1000-a-night Ritz and that he was in the business of checking out the next morning when he recognized what he jokingly called "a ghost from my past."

Yep. It was Bernie alright. Turns out Sanders had spent the night at the very same Ritz with his wife, Jane. Tarrant tapped the Vermont junior senator on the shoulder and asked him the obvious "What are YOU doing here?" Bernie mumbled something about attending a Democratic Party function of some sort.

Next thing you know, Tarrant had persuaded Sanders to walk arm-in-arm with him out the front door in order to surprise the Corleys and Tarrant's wife, who outside waiting for Rich to catch up with them.

"Deb's jaw dropped to her belt," Tarrant said of his wife's reaction. He also reported that Sanders was a "good sport" about it all.

Turns out, according to Sanders' press spokeswoman, that Bernie was in Naples along with a half-dozen other Senators as the guests of Senator Chuck Shumer and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

Tarrant, by the way, said he's splitting his time this winter between his homes in Florida and Vermont and was in town this week. Can't stay away from his kids and grandkids, he explained.

-- Sam Hemingway

Comments:
Why in hell would anyone be surprised about anything the phony Sanders does! Not unlike Edwards, Streisand, Gore, and the rest of the phony "I feel your pain" assholes who talk the talk but can't walk the walk!
 
That's the best press Tarrant's had since he got beat. I wonder which he'll choose for his primary residence in 2007?

I'm impressed that Bernie played along though, he's usually so uptight. Just goes to show, once they leave Vermont.....

Tarrant dumped money into his campaign, and Bernie matched it with his war chest. It's really an atrocity what they did to Vermont. Setting a record for money spent.

Not like the senatorship will go for cheap ever again!

Rednalsi
 
Disappointed Bernie would stay at a hotel frequented by the millionares.

There's a lot of money in Naples, and we all know that money talks and everything else walks.

Bernie should come home weekends, even though he has a six year term.
 
You just have to wonder why he still calls himself an independent.
 
Sanders is all talk - he loves his (and your) money. Lots of Huff and Puff but no substance. How can we be so stupid to keep sending this ding dong to DC?
 
Bernie will probably have a press release ready stating that he was busy inspecting Veterens'hospitals in Florida and just needed a place to sleep. Then all of his drooling, hydrophobic supporters will start writing letters or sending blogs complaining about "the rich" attacking poor old Bernie.
 
Y'know. This is the life of a US Senator, like it or lump it. If you think Bernie should stay at the Motel 6 in Naples, then run for office, beat him and make a stand. This won't be the only time Bernie spends in posh digs. It's often where the event is, so they put the senators up there. The GOP hacks want so badly to hone in on every single freakin' little blip on the radar (and Snarky Boy is crowing about this "finding" on his subpar blog as well. how original) but in the grand scheme, who really gives a crap. Sanders is going to be there for five more years, so get used to the idea. Vermonters put him in by a landslide, so save the "ooooh, now we got him" excitement for something that might actually register on the radar. Understand the world you live in folks. And if you don't like it, try relocating out of the safe haven of Vermont to somewhere where you can make a difference. Sactimony gets you nowhere.
 
Yes...but Bernie was going to be SO different! What would Hugo Chavez say!
 
Hugo Chavez is making sure quite a few Vermonters can afford to heat their homes this winter Bubba. What's GW doing (besides blowing your and my tax dollars on his war, increasing the size of government to unknown proportions and creating the largest deficit ever)? Chavez may be an egocentric, self-absorbed a'hole (hey, maybe Chavez is snarky boy)but you can't deny that low-price oil sure is helping your kin folk.
 
You sell your soul for a few gallons of cheap oil! You probably would have been buying Volkswagons from Adolf Hitler in 1941 if you could save a buck.
 
Fact is oil is the lifeblood of the american economy. Without it none of us can even get to work in the morning.

None know this more than Vermonters who face ever growing commutes in the search for meaningful employ. Right now we are paying for the mistake we made a long time ago of choosing a society that revolves around the automobile.

We use cars for everything, until their fuel source becomes more sustainable, we are doomed to oil dependance.

Rednalsi
 
True. Damn that Henry Ford!
 
Who knew the Model T would be what did in us all?

Rednalsi
 
VERMONTERS JUST DON'T GET IT - BERNIE IS ALL ABOUT BERNIE!
 
Bravo to Rich. He was able to walk up to Bernie and joke with him and introduce him to his wife.

Rich has moved on and Bernie is still the same, angry, hypocritical Bernie.

Hopefully, he will be too old to run for re-election and we can get someone in there that will actually do something. Buyers regret yet folks? Wanting someone with substance?

I don't care if Rich was a Republican because I certainly am not. But I voted for him because I liked his ideas and he would have been more independent than Bernie ever will be: a socialist who has been running on the same ideas for 30 years.

I am glad Rich has moved on and holds no grudges. I am proud of him. I wish he was in Washington right now, taking care of business.
 
yeah, right
 
Rumor has it that Bernie was partying with his new buddy Chuck Schumer. Now isn't that a pair that would make you lose your lunch!
 
You will loose your lunch more and more! Vermonters elected him.
 
nineteen comments and nobody has a blogger id, much less a name.

thank you mr. tarrant for sharing this mildly amusing anecdote.

chuck shumer is awesome.
 
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