South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is facing renewed criticism of his fundraising operation after it was revealed that a top donor once suggested that “Republican red states” should offer a “cash for fatties” program to help combat obesity.
“Basically, people in the thinner and mostly bluer states are paying for the healthcare costs of all of the uninsured and Medicare covered individuals in these red state,” wrote Wendy Wanderman in a piece titled “Cash for Fatties,” published by Huffington Post in 2011.
Similar to President Barack Obama’s “cash for clunkers” initiative, Wanderman suggested the government “institute a program in which people are paid to lose weight.”
Wanderman served on Obama’s National Finance Committee, and her name appeared on Buttigieg’s site along with a list of donors who contributed at least $25,000 to his campaign.
Buttigieg’s fundraising has been sharply criticized by his Democratic opponents who see him as a rising threat after he performed strongly in recent, early-state polls, including one that showed him 10 points clear of the field in New Hampshire.
During the sixth Democratic debate in Los Angeles earlier this month, Buttigieg was involved in a heated argument with Sen. Elizabeth Warren after the Massachusetts Democrat accused Buttigieg of holding “closed-door” fundraisers in a “wine cave, full of crystals.”
