Facebook/Burners For Bernie
So literally, you can now #FeelTheBern. In your lungs. If you’re so inclined.
That’s right. Support Bernie Sanders? Support getting stoned? BOOM! The Facebook group Burners For Bernie has you covered!
They brought to light the work of 29-year-old Portland based artist Ariel Zimman, who has turned her passion for glassblowing into an initiative to support her choice for the next President of the United States.
In what’s truly being dubbed a grassroots effort to support Bernie Sanders’ campaign, Zimman is selling the above set for $60 via her company Stonedware Co., and vowing that 10% of all the proceeds will be given to Sanders to aid his White House bud bid. Oh yeah, just the chillum is $30. I’m no expert *rips a bowl* but it looks like decent glass.
“It was really just a way to show my support for him as a candidate,” Zimman told the Center for Public Integrity. “People love [the pipes], and once they hear they are contributing in some way to the campaign, they are all about that too.”
Interestingly, though, just as Senator Sanders’ initiatives to abolish marijuana prohibition on a federal level and give states the ability to opt into legalization raises many legal eyebrows, so does Ariel Zimman’s pipes when it comes to how specific businesses can advertise their campaign contributions will be.
The Center for Public Integrity gathered several legal experts’ thoughts on Stonedware Company’s initiatives.
But artists like Zimman looking to make a buck off Bernie best beware: While most observers say political campaigns are unlikely to take legal action against their own supporters, attorneys say entrepreneurs open themselves to risk by using candidates’ names, likenesses or logos — especially when promising to donate a specific portion of their sales.
“You can’t promise to pass the money along to the candidate,” said Joe Birkenstock, an attorney at Sandler Reiff who previously served as the chief counsel of the Democratic National Committee.
“If I was advising one of these vendors, I would probably advise them to be a little less specific in their solicitation,” echoed Larry Noble, a former top lawyer for the Federal Election Commission who now works at the Campaign Legal Center.
It’s hard to imagine Bernie Sanders’ campaign taking any action against Zimman in a likeness dispute. After all, his campaign has thrived on support coming from grassroots and this falls right in line with what he advocates. Plus, the logo artwork is actually impressively spot-on.
Who knows? If Bernie somehow finds his way into the White House and does legalize weed across the board, maybe these pipes will be a hot commodity on Antiques Roadshow 100 years down the line.
[via Center For Integrity h/t High Times]