Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) lampooned those who said during the 2016 presidential campaign that politicians must depend on "super PACs funded by billionaires" to win public office.
"We were told, 'Hey, Bernie, that's the way it's always been!'" he recalled to a chorus of boos. "'Don't you know that rich people are the people who control politics?'"
Sanders has decried the role of money in politics for much of his career — and, unlike his colleagues in Vermont's congressional delegation, he has mostly refused direct contributions from special-interest political action committees.
But as he ramps up his second bid for the presidency, Sanders is drawing support from a "dark money" nonprofit run by close associates and funded, in part, by anonymous six-figure contributions.
The organization, Our Revolution, led an effort earlier this year to draft the senator into the presidential race. After it succeeded, most of the group's staffers left to join the Sanders campaign. Its board is now considering whether to use its considerable resources to further bolster his candidacy.
"I think there's a certain amount of irony when a candidate who's said he's vehemently opposed to dark money then creates a dark money group," said Michael Beckel, a researcher and investigator for the campaign finance advocacy group Issue One.