Iowa Towns Bust Budgets for Campaign Visits
by Linda Thieman
According
to DFIA Founding Member Darrell Lewis of Clear Lake, campaign visits to
Iowa towns are busting city and county budgets, and in many cases,
expenses are not being reimbursed.
Lewis
says that the Republicans, in particular, stick Iowa taxpayers with the
bill for political events, while the Democrats have a good track record
of reimbursing cities for costs. Lewis sites examples from the Mason City/Clear Lake area:
“Vice
President Al Gore, when appearing at a school in Mason City this past
winter, reimbursed Mason City schools. Howard Dean, when
appearing at NIACC, paid a fee to utilize the facility. John
Kerry paid a fee to utilize Music Man Square. When candidates use
the North Iowa Fairgrounds, they pay a fee.”
But,
writes Lewis, it appears that the recent Cheney visit to Clear Lake not
only goes un-reimbursed, but that the Bush/Cheney campaign has actually
refused to pay their own expenses.
Lewis notes:
“We have
not been able to get a total cost for the Clear Lake visit, in part,
because it involved not only the City of Clear Lake, but also Mason
City, Cerro Gordo County and the Clear Lake School District.
[But, we do] know that the Bush-Cheney campaign has refused to
reimburse cities, counties and schools for their expenses, as well as
the Iowa State Patrol.”
Lewis
continues, “We know that a Cheney visit has typically cost local
governments in excess of $10,000 and while that may be a drop in the
bucket for Des Moines and Dubuque to pick up, it’s a huge expense for
our community.”
On Friday, the Des Moines Register picked up on the growing controversy, detailing expenses involved in the recent Bush visit to Alleman.
“The
recent [Bush visit] to the Farm Progress Show near Alleman required
security from about 110 Des Moines police officers, 30 Polk County
sheriff's deputies, 35 state troopers, plus a Secret Service contingent
and other law officers.”
“In Des
Moines alone, city officials this year had paid more than $48,000 in
police overtime through mid-August for security for the campaigns of
Republican Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry. The Iowa State Patrol
has spent about $49,000 so far for regular salaries of troopers at
presidential campaign stops.”
“In
Cedar Rapids, the city provided special precautions for Bush's recent
campaign speech at Noelridge Park. They included a barricade of 31
garbage and recycling trucks, 10 road graders, plus an assortment of 22
other trucks. In addition, 20 city employees installed a security
fence. The city's overall costs for Bush's visit are expected to exceed
$10,000.”
To follow the Clear Lake story, visit the Drury for Iowa Senate website, updated daily by Lewis.
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