Bloomberg campaign calls on Bernie Sanders to denounce vandalism spree targeting offices

Vandals have defaced at least seven campaign offices for 2020 Democrat Michael Bloomberg over the past two weeks.

The former New York City mayor jumped into the Democratic primary for president in November and has since spent roughly $400 million of his money on advertising. His offices have been targeted by vandals recently, including a Monday incident in which the words “racist,” “sexist,” and “oligarch” were spray-painted onto the windows of the campaign’s Chicago office.

Bloomberg’s campaign called the incident an “act of hate” and suggested that supporters of one of his primary opponents, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, may be behind the spree.

“While we do not know who is directly responsible, we do know Sen. Bernie Sanders and his campaign have repeatedly invoked this language and the word ‘oligarch’ specifically when discussing Mike Bloomberg and his campaign,” Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said.

“Sen. Sanders’s refusal to denounce these illegal acts is a sign of his inability to lead, and his willingness to condone and promote Trump-like rhetoric has no place in our politics,” he continued.

Sheekey called on Sanders to disavow the vandalism targeting Bloomberg’s campaign offices. The campaign manager said that the incidents of vandalism may lead to violence unless Sanders calls on his supporters to “end their spread of hateful rhetoric.”

“This needs to end before someone gets hurt,” he said.

Perpetrators have defaced other Bloomberg campaign offices with spray-painted messages targeting the businessman’s wealth and his history of supporting stop-and-frisk policies while he was mayor of New York City.

On Bloomberg’s Knoxville, Tennessee, office, vandals wrote words such as “authoritarian,” “classist,” and “oligarch” on the office windows. The perpetrators also put up posters of Bloomberg’s past remarks regarding women and labeled them “fascist,” “sexist,” and “racist.” Bloomberg’s campaign pointed the finger toward Sanders at the time.

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