Slate: Bernie’s Fundraising Was Revolutionary. How He Spent His Money Was Not.
Larry Noble, general counsel of the Washington, D.C.–based Campaign Legal Center, said it’s possible that Canal Partners set up Old Towne in an attempt to avoid the appearance of coordination between the campaign and independent groups like Friends of the Earth Action. Or maybe the company, mindful of the business it does with more traditional Democrats, “wanted to separate themselves from the Sanders campaign. Maybe they thought it would hurt their business if they were just working for the Sanders campaign.”
Such arrangements are legal, but in 2005, Larry Noble, then–executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, told the Montpellier Times-Argus, “It's a form of self-dealing and anytime you're involved with self-dealing, questions are going to be raised."