NH town seeks compensation for Obama campaign stop

[Dos Equis]

This is just wrong. 

NH town seeks compensation for Obama campaign stop
June 23, 2012

A New Hampshire town is asking for reimbursement from President Barack Obama’s campaign to pay for public safety costs during his upcoming visit.

Durham officials say Obama’s visit on Monday is expected to cost the town an extra $20,000 to $30,000 in overtime.

The town absorbs the costs associated with presidential visits, but says it shouldn’t have to foot the bill for political campaigns.

Town Administrator Todd Selig said Saturday the Obama campaign had decided it won’t reimburse the town for those costs.

http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-23/news/32384004_1_obama-campaign-nh-town-presidential-visits

[Soul Crusher]

Obama already stiffed many other towns.   Nothing new.

[Vince G, CSN MFT]

So has every other person and president running for office.  There's never been anyone to ever have to pay because campaign stops actually bring way more money into these towns due to the increase in business, meals, and hotel accomodations. 

 

[240 is Back]

this jsut seems silly.   is there not some universally practiced precedent for this?  or this woudl be just some local hack mayor sucking up to his red-meat base locally by making this headline?

[avxo]

This is just wrong.  

NH town seeks compensation for Obama campaign stop
June 23, 2012

A New Hampshire town is asking for reimbursement from President Barack Obama’s campaign to pay for public safety costs during his upcoming visit.

Durham officials say Obama’s visit on Monday is expected to cost the town an extra $20,000 to $30,000 in overtime.

The town absorbs the costs associated with presidential visits, but says it shouldn’t have to foot the bill for political campaigns.

Town Administrator Todd Selig said Saturday the Obama campaign had decided it won’t reimburse the town for those costs.

http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-23/news/32384004_1_obama-campaign-nh-town-presidential-visits

I don't know the details, but this sounds like a way of scoring a cheap political point.

With that said, the direct and indirect costs associated with a Presidential or Vice-Presidential visit (regardless of who the President is) that are borne by municipalities are ridiculous. And that's before you take into consideration things like the disruption and inconvenience that residents are subjected to, between the traffic rerouting, parking restrictions, cell phone service interruptions, air-traffic restrictions, etc..

[Dos Equis]

I don't know the details, but this sounds like a way of scoring a cheap political point.

With that said, the direct and indirect costs associated with a Presidential or Vice-Presidential visit (regardless of who the President is) that are borne by municipalities are ridiculous. And that's before you take into consideration things like the disruption and inconvenience that residents are subjected to, between the traffic rerouting, parking restrictions, cell phone service interruptions, air-traffic restrictions, etc..

It isn't just a visit by the president.  It's a campaign stop.  The campaign paying for the extra security costs associated with the campaign stop seems like a no brainer. 

You should see the havoc Obama wreaks on Oahu when he comes here. 

[avxo]

It isn't just a visit by the president.  It's a campaign stop.  The campaign paying for the extra security costs associated with the campaign stop seems like a no brainer.

I don't disagree that the campaign should have to bear the cost associated with campaign events. But that's not what I was referring to. Whether it's a campaign stop or not, the fact is that it's a visit by the President in the sense that the President visits the town. My point was that, as a result, the town has to deal with all sorts of major inconvenience, which have a significant financial impact on the city, and on the everyday lives of those who live there. In other words, my gripe was that a visit by a President (regardless of the reason) on top of being hugely expensive is a major pain in the ass.

[Dos Equis]

I don't disagree that the campaign should have to bear the cost associated with campaign events. But that's not what I was referring to. Whether it's a campaign stop or not, the fact is that it's a visit by the President in the sense that the President visits the town. My point was that, as a result, the town has to deal with all sorts of major inconvenience, which have a significant financial impact on the city, and on the everyday lives of those who live there. In other words, my gripe was that a visit by a President (regardless of the reason) on top of being hugely expensive is a major pain in the ass.

I agree about the spending.  Just pointing out that this isn't just a presidential visit.  It's a campaign visit.

[Soul Crusher]

June 25. 2012 7:47PM

'Pay Later Barack': Picking up Obama's tab





No one should be surprised that the Obama campaign refused to pay the cost of police protection for the President's Durham campaign stop on Monday. The entire Obama administration can be summed up in these five words: Obama gives speech, we pay.

Since when has this President taken personal responsibility for his actions, their effects or their costs? Every American ought to be able to see by now the pattern that he has repeated since he took office:

1. Give sweeping speech proclaiming grand but vague vision.

2. Lowball the real cost of executing that vision and pay for much of it with debt.

3. If policies are enacted and then generate unintended consequences, blame the results on the previous administration.

4. If policy costs are shown to be more than the administration predicted, blame private sector “greed” and political obstruction.


The stimulus bill was supposed to cost $787 billion. The Congressional Budget Office calculated late last year that the bill will increase the federal deficit by $831 billion over 10 years. Obamacare was supposed to cost less than $1 trillion. But Obama and Democrats in Congress got to that figure by cooking the books. For example, the law raised Medicaid payments to doctors but simply did not fund those payments after 2014. It expanded Medicaid eligibility, part of which states have to fund themselves. And of course individuals have to buy insurance if they don't have it now, and insurers have to pay for the costs of mandated coverage such as insuring “children” until age 26.

Obama loves the idea of replacing coal and oil power with wind and solar power. So he directs billions of dollars in taxpayer money to wind and solar projects. Solyndra, which went bankrupt after the Obama administration gave it $535 million in loan guarantees, was just one of these projects we were forced to subsidize.

Obama likes trains. So he committed $8 billion in debt-financed stimulus funding to trains, and the Democratic Congress added another $2.5 billion.

The President really enjoys spending money on things he thinks will make our lives better. He just doesn't like paying for it. He expects others (mostly our children) to do that at some undefined point in the future.

Obama sets the grand vision (which, conveniently, doles out money to political constituencies he favors) and lets others figure out how to pay for it later. That's why the budget he proposed this year grows the federal debt from $15.7 trillion this year to $25 trillion a decade later. Sticking the taxpayers of Durham with a $20,000 bill for his campaign speech is just par for the course with this guy. If only the American taxpayer, like Durham, had an anonymous donor to step in and pick up the tab.
 
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120626/OPINION01/706269995/1004/opinion

[Soul Crusher]

Short end of the stump
Obama leaves Hub on hook for fundraising stop

By Hillary Chabot
 Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - Updated 3 hours ago




 



Outraged taxpayer advocates slammed President Obama for lavishly politicking on the taxpayers’ dime last night, as Boston ran up a hefty tab providing security so the Democratic incumbent could breeze in and out of town for a series of re-election events.
 
“It’s an atrocious waste of taxpayer money,” said David Tuerck, a government ethics watchdog with Suffolk University. “There is no taxpayer interest in any of this. It’s all about getting him re-elected, and the campaign should pay for everything.”

 

Mayor Thomas M. Menino rebuffed questions about security costs.
 
“(It’s) the president of the United States, and I respect the office he holds,” Menino told WBZ-radio. “I’m not gonna let petty politics play any part of what the presidential visit (means) to the city of Boston.”
 
Menino added that he wants to make sure the president has a great visit to Boston.
 
“It’s very exciting for the city. I’ll just say we’re honored by having him here tonight,” Menino said.
 
City Hall refused to provide a cost estimate, but one city official predicted it could run between $150,000 to $200,000 to provide security for Obama, in town on a $3.1 million fundraising tear. The Boston Police Department had hordes of officers outside Hamersley’s Bistro in the South End and at Symphony Hall. Boston police will also likely provide security as Obama stays the night and leaves this morning.
 
“Given that many municipalities are facing budget crunches of their own, squeezing them even further for political events can grate on a lot of residents’ nerves,” said Pete Sepp, vice president of the conservative-leaning National Taxpayers Union. He argued that presidents from both political parties should pick up their campaign tabs.
 
“This is a major problem of incumbency. They utilize Air Force One and all trappings to make political trips, and they only pay a portion of it with their campaign funds,” he said.
 
Obama, who gave a warm endorsement to Elizabeth Warren during last night’s fundraiser in the packed Symphony Hall, focused on rallying supporters. He admitted his race against Mitt Romney will be tough but urged voters to stick with him.
 
“This election will be close. It will be close because there are a lot of folks who are going through a tough time,” he said. “I believe in you and if you believe in me ... then I need you to stand with me for a second term as president.”
 
Obama’s campaign pays for a portion of the $182,000-an-hour cost of operating Air Force One and his presidential motorcade, said campaign officials last night, but they did not detail how much.
 
The cost of protecting Obama almost halted a campaign visit yesterday in Durham, N.H., where residents protested paying for the political event. A private donor eventually covered the cost of the trip to the city, which only served to raise objections among conservatives about the secrecy.


http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/20220626short_end_of_the_stump_obama_leaves_hub_on_hook_for_fundraising_stop/srvc=home&position=0