In Wilmington, Sanders takes on financial sector

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Bernie Sanders campaign — which has made reform of “rigged” banking and finance systems a central plank — planted its flag Saturday in Wilmington, a financial-services hub and the home of crucial voters in the Delaware Democratic primary.

“If we think about half a loaf, we will get crumbs. If we think about small ideas, we will get small results,” Sanders said at a rally that drew more than 3,000 people to the Chase Center.

"The truth is, we have a rigged economy. That is an economy which is based in unsustainable principles. That is an economy that is not moral. Not the economy we need to be the great nation we should be.”

Several in the crowd said Delaware’s business-friendly and bank-attracting financial laws fuel the inequality the Vermont senator decries. Some 47,000 people, nearly a tenth of the state’s workforce, are employed in finance here.

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“I’m going to vote for Bernie Sanders, and he’s probably going to put me out of a job if he’s elected because I work for Big Money,” said John R., a man in his 30s with a job at a financial services company. He declined to give his last name because he said the corporate culture wouldn’t welcome his political views.

“I have enough foresight to say that even if he does put me out of a job, it’ll be better for our country,” he said. “Whether or not he can do it, we’ll see.”

Sanders, in his speech, walked the crowd through a series of what he called tough truths: that billionaires can buy elections, that the economy is a rigged game, that the criminal justice system is broken.

Some of the loudest cheers came when he outlined proposals to make public colleges tuition-free and to reform the nation’s federal drug possession laws, including decriminalizing marijuana use.

In an interview backstage with The News Journal, he said he disagreed with laws like those in Delaware that allow companies to incorporate without disclosing their investors and officers.

“I'm not a great fan of secrecy. We need transparency,” Sanders said. “I have legislation that would end the tax loophole by which corporations stash their money in the Cayman Islands without paying anything in a given year, profitable corporations that don't pay a nickel in taxes. That is absurd."

Would Delaware’s dependence on the financial sector for thousands of jobs hurt his chances on Tuesday?

“Among some people it will, but I don't think among most people,” he said. “Most people in Delaware know something is wrong when they work longer hours for lower wages and almost all the income and wealth go to the top 1%.”

Jason Hoy, a math teacher from Marlton, N.J., said he drove to Wilmington to support a candidate he feels is focusing on the right issues, particularly his own student loan debt.

"Every candidate has their priorities. He is talking about the problems of everyday people like tuition and the cost of healthcare," Hoy said. "It is just interesting to be around people who are passionate about this process."

The still-in-flux race for the Democratic presidential nomination has made Delaware, which generally gets limited attention during the candidate-selection process, a critical state in amassing delegates.

In caucuses and primaries so far, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accumulated 1,428 pledged delegates. Sanders can claim 1,153 bound delegates. Democrats require 2,383 delegate votes at their convention this year to anoint a nominee.

But Democratic superdelegates — party leaders who can cast votes at the convention any way they like — favor Clinton over Sanders by a 13-1 ratio, at least among the hundreds who have told activists and reporters whom they're backing.

Vice President Joe Biden, a superdelegate and registered Delaware voter, has not publicly said who he is supporting.

In a short interview, Sanders said he spoke to Biden last week about the vice president’s superdelegate role.

“It is a very positive relationship. He has said some very kind things about our campaign,” Sanders said. “We will see. I think at this point, he and the president are both uncommitted.”