On Thursday, Hillary Clinton attended a fundraising event being hosted at the residence of Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. In addition to being Colorado’s governor, Hickenlooper is also a Superdelegate who has already pledged his vote for Clinton, despite the fact that Bernie Sanders won in Colorado.
The event was a private fundraiser which was hosted outside in a tent with a minimum price to attend set at $500. Some donors had bundled contributions up to $10,000.
Passers-by could hear the sounds of the milling crowd and the speakers including Clinton, but something strange happened shortly before she took the stage to speak.
CBS Denver reporter Stan Bush reported the strange phenomenon in a string of Twitter videos which showed that when Clinton took the stage, the previously clear ambient noises of a milling crowd was reduced to white noise static. Bush said that it was clear that the media was being blocked by a static machine from recording any of Clinton’s speech to donors.
This is what the fundraiser sounded like before Clinton spoke from outside the venue:
Here’s what it sounds like with that static noise machine turned off at the @HillaryClinton campaign fundraiser pic.twitter.com/keyuXwQad2
— Stan Bush (@StanBushTV) April 8, 2016
And this is what it sounded like shortly before Clinton took the stage:
.@cascamike listen here for sound of what was turned on after the bands and just before the speeches. pic.twitter.com/GhSE15NDeN
— Stan Bush (@StanBushTV) April 8, 2016
This controversy may remind you of another time in 2012 when then-candidate Mitt Romney was secretly recorded during a fundraiser speech in which he disdainfully dismissed the bottom half of the American population. By not allowing the media to cover private fundraising events, candidates are only allowing the continuation of secret and corrupt campaign financing.
And in case you’re wondering, this is yet another instance in which Sanders and Clinton differ. While Clinton spends most of her campaigning time at private fundraisers like these, Sanders has only held three private fundraising events, and all were attended by members of the media.
