In his 1991 book, The Socialist Mayor: Bernard Sanders in Burlington, Vermont, Steven Soifer indicated how 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders apparently governed the city of Burlington, Vermont during the 1980's, when he was the mayor of that small city:
"....One of Sanders's progressive critics strongly felt that Sanders's comment about running the city [of Burlington, Vermont] like a corporation was indicative of the sellout of his socialist principles. Said this critic about Sanders: `He respects capitalists....The big fact is he's running the city like a corporation. The city's not an ethical community to him, it's a corporation....'
"....His `honeymoon' with Antonio Pomerleau, the city's largest individual taxpayer, [head of] a large insurance business and own[er of] shopping centers and development throughout the state, was a curious one that raised eyebrows in the progressive....community. The two seemed to strike a personal friendship early on in Sanders's first term. Said Sanders: `On a personal level, I have to say I'm fond of Tony....He's a self-made capitalist, not a corporate capitalist....' This is not the sort of distinction one expects a socialist to make.
"....Some progressives accused the [Sanders] administration of making too many compromises with developers....
"....One prominent Burlington businessman commented: `I think most of Bernie's initiatives around job formation and economic development have been very entrepreneurial and capitalistic, frankly.'....Business fears of `nationalization' or real socialism in Burlington have proved unfounded...."
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