• Swing-state Cities Tire of Paying for Campaign Visits

[ElsewheresDaughter]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&ncid=716&e=22&u=/usatoday/20040929/ts_usatoday/costofcandidatesvisitswearingoutwelcome


No presidential candidate had ever visited Cloquet, Minn., until Sen. John Kerry dropped in July 2 for a rally. City administrators spent hours planning the visit with Kerry's advance team. Public works crews for days spruced up the West End. Police and firefighters canceled leave to work security.

Cost of the 45-minute campaign appearance: $10,000.

Now, many in Cloquet, a town of 11,000 near Duluth, are wondering if the visit was worth the expense.

snip

In Bloomfield Hills, Mich., where Bush visited July 7, public safety director David Piche says the Detroit suburb will have to cover the $5,000 in police overtime pay.

"You can't help but be overwhelmed when you walk into a room and there's the president of the United States," Piche says. "But at the end of the day, it's still one more ... problem we have to deal with."

On Aug. 4, Bush and Kerry had campaign stops three blocks apart in Davenport, Iowa. The entire police force of 157 officers was on duty for the two events in this Mississippi River town. Total cost: $23,000 - nearly the annual salary of a rookie officer.

"We were glad to see them show up," police chief Michael Bladel says of Bush and Kerry. "We were double-glad to see them go."

[DS1]

1. How about keeping the place nice instead of having to pick up

shit before a guest arrives?

"spruce things up" waah

[DBoon]

2. How about letting Bush see what a dump

most US cities are most of the time, and how few resources they actually have to "spruce the place up"

Puncture his fantasy world just a little bit, maybe.

[Tommy_Douglas]

3. Nah Bush wouldn't care...

He likely wouldn't even noticed...

Isn't paying for politicians on the campaign trail part of the norm for cities? I mean this isn't something new...

More states should be like New York and California, that way you don't have to pay for campaign visits. Nor do you have to tolerate Bush's presence either.

[goclark]

4. If Bloomfield is complaining

That is a problem.
They are one of the richest cities in the nation.

[llywrch]

5. The Story Misses the Point

My home town has grown tired of this practice, & submitted a few bills of its own. But the argument is clearly different.

Both Bush pere & fils have a practice of flying into Portland, driving from the airport to a secure location across town to attend a fund raiser where neither the public nor the local media is welcome. As a result, traffic is tied up for an entire day (the Secret Service won't permit anyone else on the freeway with the President), the city is stuck with overtime, & Bush leaves with a handsome contribution to the warchest of his choice.

As a result, the city of Portland has sent bills to the Republican party for several years for police overtime. Yet this example wasn't included in the article. I guess they had to make room for the examples mentioning Kerry.

Geoff

[Momof1]

6. Johnstown PA sent * a bill for $10,000 for the

campaign stop last month.