Bush's Re-election Campaign Is Costing You Money

[SoCalDem]

http://www.coastalpost.com/04/04/05.htm

April, 2004
Bush's Re-election Campaign Is Costing You Money
By Karen Nakamura

Now that the presidential campaign is in full swing, John Kerry and George Bush have stepped up fundraising efforts across the country. It's not unusual for the President to pick up several million dollars at each stop. Fundraising on these trips has been so lucrative that the media commented on a stop that yielded only $500,000. What puzzles many Americans is why Bush and Company needs more than the $150,000,000 already raised, especially when that fund can only be used prior to the Republican convention in the summer. What are the costs to taxpayers of transporting the president to these countless fundraisers?

Let's focus on the costs of running Air Force One and it's obvious fundraising use. Rules set in 1982 require that the government pay for all costs associated with the President's official business. In an article published by the Washington Post, May 20, 2002, Mike Allen wrote, "And because Bush is always the president -- whether acting as commander in chief or head of the Republican Party -- taxpayers pay the full $57,000-an-hour cost of flying Air Force One regardless of the trip's purpose."


snip......

Readers will remember that President Clinton and Al Gore were widely criticized for not separating fundraising events from official functions during Air Force One trips. It was an important ingredient of the congressional investigation into the Buddhist temple fundraising fiasco. The temple visit was supposed to be the official portion rather than a political event. A line had been crossed.

snip.......

How much, then, are Americans paying for building the Bush-Cheney Campaign war chest? Exact costs are hard to gauge. The White House hasn't answered questions about costs and has little on its official site. The Air Force One site doesn't either. Because the GAO has a reputation of usually being close to the mark, we'll use its figure of $35,000. A typical day trip aboard Air Force One might run four hours total, an hour total for take off and landing, an hour each way, an hour on the destination's tarmac. That makes $140,000 per excursion. A two-day trip to the West Coast would average $1,680,000.

During his first 16 months in office, Bush took 28 political trips. That's easily a cool million. The pace has increased greatly with the coming election. Since January of this year, Bush has traveled extensively. He's taken two trips West and at least ten day-trips. Amazingly, he even appeared in several states a day or two after the Democratic primary. Again, using GAO figures, the cost to American taxpayers for the first quarter could conservatively run over $5,000,000. While the Bush Administration has once again shown how it can do things "on the cheap", once again it hasn't been cheap for the American taxpayer.

[mulethree]

1. Probably pays

The price of a coach airfare.

But the other costs. When he visits NYC you need about 1,000 police to close off highways and avenues - to and from the airport plus any time he moves around within town. Add the cost of the time wasted in the traffic jams he causes.

50 Secret service in his escort and a bunch more to secure - wherever it is he's going to. Some more, I suppose, to guard the airforce1.

[No Mandate Here.]

2. Not to mention other "official"

events ... like Chainey talking to the NRA, and blasting pigeons in PA, and ducks in Louisiana, and "Mr. Inclusive" Ashcroft flitting around in his leased Lears.

Adds up pretty fast.

The best (worst) image here is the one that was in the Daytona 500 issue of Sports Illustrated. A two page spread, it showed AF One taking off directly behind a section of grandstand.

* flew in, disrupted traffic, sat like a king in the royal box, and left early- quite loudly. What a great guest!

We have to remove him. We MUST recruit two new Dem voters apiece.