Tad Devine, chief strategist for the Bernie Sanders campaign, has an interesting work history of advising both deposed foreign presidents and seedy domestic figures.
Donald Trump has received criticism for bringing Paul Manafort on to his campaign due to Manafort having previously worked with ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. However, Devine also worked for Yanukovych.
Check out some of the morally dubious people Devine has worked for below.
1. Manuel Zelaya
Former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a 2009 coup when he attempted to change the constitution in order to allow him to be re-elected. Zelaya, a friend of the late Hugo Chavez, at one point ordered Honduras’ television stations to air several two-hour segments for ten days in a row praising the government. A journalist in the country who was critical of Zelaya was murdered by gunmen. Devine worked as a strategist and media consultant on Zelaya’s 2005 campaign
2. Alejandro Toledo
Toledo was president of Peru from 2001 to 2006 during which he signed the Peru-United States Trade Promotion Agreement. Sanders in the Senate voted against the deal and said, “one of the major reasons that the middle class in the United States is shrinking, poverty is increasing and the gap between the rich and the poor is growing wider is in fact due to our disastrous, unfettered trade policy.” Devine worked on Toledo’s 2001 presidential campaign as a strategist and media consultant.
3. Buddy Cianci
Devine served as chief of staff for one of America’s most infamous mayors from 1979 to 1980. Cianci was elected as a Republican mayor of Providence in 1974 and served until 1984, when he resigned over an assault charge. Cianci was alleged to have beaten a man he suspected of sleeping with his wife. The mayor allegedly stuck a lit cigarette in the man’s eye and denied urinating on him — although no one had brought that detail up.
4. Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada
Devine worked on Bolivian President Sanchez de Lozada’s 2002 presidential campaign as a strategist and media consultant. Lozada is currently in exile in the United States. During the “Gas Protests” in 2003 when the president militarized natural gas production in the country, 67 civilians were killed by government forces. “Whatever harm to property or persons that might be produced as an effect of fulfilling the objective of this supreme decree shall be compensated and guaranteed by the State,” de Lozada wrote in a decree.
5. Viktor Yanukovych
Yanukovych served as prime minister and president of Ukraine at different points in recent history. Devine worked as a strategist and media consultant for Yanukovych in 2006 and 2010. Yanukovych stepped down as president in 2014 when mass protests swept his country. The former prime minister lived in an opulent mansion that cost an estimated $100 million — a symbol of the corruption charges his administration faced.
This is the house the president never wanted his people to see pic.twitter.com/PiAQjVNumU
— Matt Frei (@mattfrei) February 22, 2014
Every President needs one of these pic.twitter.com/IpDyROISD8
— Matt Frei (@mattfrei) February 22, 2014
Yanukovych’s purported car collection. MT @Andriyak: А Віктор Федорович – нехилий любитель авто і мото екзотики!!! pic.twitter.com/ffK70U8LOz
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) February 22, 2014
6. Jon Corzine
Devine worked as a media consultant on Corzine’s 2006 Senate run. The anti-Wall Street Sanders is certainly no fan of Corzine. Corzine was CEO of Goldman Sachs between 1994 to 1999, during which he made at least $400 million. He was also CEO of MF Global, which went bankrupt and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil charges against Corzine for using client funds to pay for the company’s shortfalls. There was $1.2 billion missing from MF Global customer accounts.