Cheney's visit raises $750,000, along with voices of protest
11/25/03
Mark Naymik
Plain Dealer Politics Writer
Vice President Dick Cheney raised about $44,000 a minute last night for his and the president's re-election campaign, collecting nearly $750,000 with his 17-minute speech before a room of Cleveland's wealthiest business and civic leaders.
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Tom Pirko, the Sierra Club's Northeast Ohio energy chairman, criticized Cheney's "hubris and secrecy" while drafting the administration's latest energy bill proposal outside of public scrutiny. "America needs to be a leader, not a follower of corporate direction," Pirko said.
Campaign Money Watch, a nonprofit group that monitors campaign finance, tried to portray Cheney's visit as a costly one to Clevelanders, noting that his visit was stressing the already depleted city resources.
"With today's news that Cleveland will cut 700 jobs, including 263 police officers, Campaign Money Watch calls on the Bush-Cheney campaign to reimburse the city of Cleveland for the additional costs associated with security around Vice President Dick Cheney's special-interest fund-raising event," the group said in a statement.
Plain Dealer reporter Sarah Hollander contributed to this story.
(She is the one who stood out in the cold to report this.)
edit: forgot the link!
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