Dem Taxpayers pay for Republican Campaigns Through Taxes

[appleannie1]

When Vice President Dick Cheney shuttled across the state Monday on Air Force Two, raising as much as $500,000 for the Republican Party and its candidates, taxpayers footed most of the bill.

The campaigns of GOP Senate candidate Mike McGavick and House hopeful Doug Roulstone will reimburse only a tiny fraction of what it cost to fly Cheney to Washington, drive him around in motorcades, put him up for the night, pay the salaries of traveling staff and provide Secret Service protection.

Subsidized campaign junkets by the president and vice president are likely to add up quickly in this year's crucial battle for Congress.

"Assuming that the president and vice president engage in political travel in 2006 comparable to their political travel in 2002, the projected cost to the taxpayer of their political flights in 2006 is $7.2 million," said a report last month by minority staff of the House Committee on Government Reform.

"Adjusting this figure to account for estimated reimbursements, the projected net cost to the taxpayer in 2006 is $7 million," the report added.

The Cheney trip this week is a textbook case of how to charge the public purse for a political trip.

An oft-used gambit is a brief "official" stopover at a military base between fund-raisers.

The troops may have been sent to Iraq without adequate protective gear and armor, but Cheney and President Bush have not hesitated to deploy soldiers, sailors and airmen as stage props.

Cheney spoke for 17 minutes Monday afternoon to about 500 service members at Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane. The stop at Fairchild allowed Cheney to save Republicans thousands of dollars they would have to reimburse the government if the political event had been the only item on his Lilac City itinerary.



Bush used a similar gambit in 2004 when he came to Spokane to boost the Senate campaign of then-Rep. George Nethercutt. He included an official event in the form of a speech on "new threats to the nation's security" at Fort Lewis.

The real business lies elsewhere. Bush spoke to a $1,000-a-plate dinner for Nethercutt.

Cheney's real destination in Spokane was the Marie Antoinette Room of the Hotel Davenport. A $500-a-person
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/267193_joel19.html

[sutz12]

1. In all fairness, Clinton and Gore did this too.

It's a perk the incumbants get and a loophole that should be closed for everybody.

One good note. We might get a discount on Dubya travel this year. I don't think many local repubs are going to want his endorsement. At least not publicly. :)

[stillcool]

2. really? ...

In all fairness, there is no comparison to the rape of American treasure committed by this administration, to any other in my history.

[anotherdrew]

3. 7mil seems kinda low actually. and what about lost productivity?

jet fuel alone and wear and tear could run that much, and all the extra staff people pulled off other work to gaurd and secure them? I don't know... Seems fair to require more reimbursement at least. Also they need to reimburse cities that have to pay massive police overtime when they visit.

[MagickMuffin]

4. Let them eat cake

Cheney's real destination in Spokane was the Marie Antoinette Room of the Hotel Davenport. A $500-a-person reception for McGavick drew about 200 people.

Flight operating costs total $56,518 an hour on Air Force One and $14,552 an hour on Air Force Two, according to last month's House report.

During the last off-year election, in 2002, Bush went on at least 46 trips to 82 destinations to do political fund raising and rallies. Air Force One covered 45,000 miles on these trips at an estimated flight cost of $4.1 million. The estimated cost of accompanying cargo planes came to $615,000.

Cheney took at least 37 trips to 86 destinations on 2002 political missions. He covered more than 66,000 miles at an estimated flight cost of $1.8 million.

What did the political beneficiaries pay?

"The total estimated reimbursement recovered by the federal government for presidential and vice presidential political flights in 2002 was $198,000, and the total net cost to the taxpayer was $6.3 million," the House report said. "The taxpayer thus paid an estimated 97 percent of the flight expenses."

Maybe Dick will go the way of the Antoinette:rofl:

[bemildred]

5. We all pay through corporate profits and tax breaks (and wars).

This stuff you are talking about is peanuts, really.