Is Schock a leader or a follower? A Republican or a Democrat? A man or a mouse?
All are valid questions as Schock continues to dig in his heels against paying back the taxpaying citizens of his district. The Journal Star reports today:
State Rep. Aaron Schock’s campaign manager said Friday that if U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign pays the local costs of police and fire protection during a visit to Springfield last month, then they might consider doing the same for Peoria.
“If (Obama) ends up paying for it, things might change,” Steve Shearer said, referring to $38,000 in city of Peoria costs for police, fire and public works services on July 25, when President George W. Bush visited for a private fundraiser for Schock, R-Peoria.
The article goes on to explain that Springfield is getting ready to bill the Obama campaign about $50,000 for services the city provided when Obama announced Biden as his running mate. Shearer’s quote to the paper: “We’ll see if Obama breaks precedent (of not paying for local police protection).”
So for Schock, it’s not about doing the right thing, it’s about doing what everybody else is doing. If all the other candidates are sticking it to their constituents, well then it’s okay with Schock. Keep that gravy train a-comin’! He’s not going to take the lead and break a precedent of soaking taxpayers for private political events and fundraisers. Let someone else do it. Otherwise, he might be the only one standing on principle, and wouldn’t that be horrible? People might accuse him of being… responsible. Or fiscally conservative. Heaven forbid!
Is this the way Schock is going to make decisions once he gets into office? First find out what everyone else is doing, then follow? Fantastic. And he’s following Obama, no less. You know, Obama — the Democratic presidential nominee? He’s going to follow that guy.
Oh well. No one ever accused Schock of being an independent thinker…. Well, except maybe that “nukes-to-Taiwan” idea. That was original.
Maybe he should just keep his money and spend his integrity.
Did you just start blogging a few weeks ago, CJ? Where was all the indignation when all the other candidates were doing the same thing?
How short-sighted of Schock to assume that Peoria would want to participate in keeping the visiting U.S. President and Peorian’s safe. Next time Aaron, put it out for bid. There are plenty of communities that would have welcomed the event. If Peoria businesses complain, give them Sandberg’s home phone number.
This is my last post on this subject. Talk about beating a dead horse. It’s not like the Schock campaign and the City can’t work it out without our quarterbacking.
Wow, I must have really been out of it. When did the President of the United States come to town for private fundraisers for “all the other candidates”? Please, give me the link to the news stories on “all the other candidates” who cost the city $38,000 in police, fire, and public works services. I totally missed those!
Apples and oranges?
The Obama appearance in Springfield was NOT a fundraiser. It was an historic announcement. The thousands of people who attended the Springfield event stayed in local hotels, bought gas, and ate lunch. The local economy benefited, not to mention that this historic, Midwestern city, got some good national exposure.
Like Tulip posted, these two things are not even close to being the same thing and what gets me is how many people keep trying to equate these things when they are not even similar.
It’s like people want to keep playing the tired old game of “he did it first” instead of acknowledging taxpayers should not have to pay for the last Bush trip to Peoria for a private and partisan political function to raise money for a private and partisan reason.
And it is not splitting hairs, either.
Did all who attended check their wallets at the gate?
Was this a fund free zone and you could not give even if you wanted to?
Did every person in the “zone” only listen to the speech by the candidates and if they were approachd by evil fund raisers they put their fingers in their ears and shouted for the no funding allowed police?
If Obama had made his announcement in Peoria, would he be attacked for all of these costs? Police protection for any high-level event is a no-brainer; it has to be provided. What does Chicago and New York do for all of their high-level visits? Do they charge overtime rates or just “do it” as a normal cost of city business?
ps – I still cannot get anyone to answer how parking about 30 trucks cost the city over $11,000?
Same old same old — SB2477 piano keys being played — always spending taxpayer money for the public good…. end sarcasm.
MDD,Diane,
Don’t be ridiculous. This is NOT Chicago or New York.
“How short-sighted of Schock to assume that Peoria would want to participate in keeping the visiting U.S. President and Peorian’s safe. Next time Aaron, put it out for bid. There are plenty of communities that would have welcomed the event.”
– All Shock has done is been short-sighted. His TV ad oil-drilling babble was nipped in the butt by Obama last night. No other community would consider this because they could not afford it!!! How did Peoria benefit from Bush’s visit anyway?
Schock doesn’t know when to give it a break. The guy was ahead in the polls by a more-than comfortable margin, yet he continues to show us what a boob he can be. It is going to his head. Just wait until it explodes.
Make all events pay, Profit, not for profit, parades, walks, running events,car shows ,motor bikes, All events that need or want public services should pay. What is good for one is good for all. If it is really about $$$ then all should pay, if not then it is partisan political tactics. Money is money and All events take $$$ and employees of the city off the streets or hire them back on overtime.
I’m sorry but it is NOT ‘apples and oranges’. It was a political event in Springfield and whether it was not a fundraiser but rather an annoucement is irrelevent. It gains no greater relevence due to someones opinion that it was an “historic” announcement. It was a partisan poltical event staged by an opposing political party. Its nature was political and benefitted only one political segment of a society.
Harold: The Springfield event did not cost $500 to get in. It was FREE at anyone.
I have lived in Springfield for 3 years (was in the Peoria area for about 20 before that), and did attend Obama’s 2007 event (the freezing one) but not the one in August. I live close enough to the downtown area, however, to have observed the preparations for it.
Obama’s Springfield event crammed 35,000 people into an area of maybe 3 or 4 city blocks at most on a 90-degree, stiflingly humid day, and forbade them to bring bottled water or other beverages (the Secret Service claimed the bottles could have been used as projectiles or for some other nefarious purpose).
Just about every police officer within a 50-mile radius was there. Plus a lot of people got sick from the heat, and emergency responders were kept busy. The costs not only to the city but to other local governments (that put officers on standby, etc.) was significant.
Now I wasn’t at Bush’s event, but considering that it was a private fundraiser, held mostly indoors in a climate-controlled environment, I am guessing the cost to local law enforcement and other agencies was not quite as high.
I say this not to slam or praise either Schock or Obama, or say what they should or should not do, but to point out that the Bush event probably didn’t cost local governments nearly as much as the Obama event did.
I should correct one of my statement to say that it SEEMED as if every STATE police officer within a 50-mile radius was there.
It is irrelevent that there was a $500 admission charge or not to this or that political event. Both were politically independent events in nature requiring municipal services which caused taxpayer expenditure. Both events politcally benefitted the candidates. Whether Obama and the democrats made no money from the Springfield event is irrelevent. The benefit to Obama and the democrats due to the event in Springfield is as fungible. The event itself was a political commondity being traded.
Is Shock running against Obama? No
Are my tax dollars now going to the City of Springfield? No
Do I actually care what the City of Springfield spent on an Obama visit? No…because I don’t live in Springfield.
The boy wonder is not going down without a fight on this one. Glad to see him stand up for what is right. He’ll fit right in when he’s in D.C.
Steve Shearer better start looking for a job… he just stuck his neck out WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too far and Shock is gonna have to send it rolling.
(Did he really say “Nanny nanny boo boo” at the end of that statement?????)
No one here will damn care about any of this petty bullshit dollar amount when a weak, petty nuclear Pakistan government is taken over by terrorist elements. This country Pakistan is a failure waiting to occur. Who the damn will then care about a measly five figures from a political campaign? Vote for Callahan who is pro draft. We will need the draft I feel.
DV says it’s a dead horse, so it is. DV says it’s apples and oranges, so it is. Duh. Don’t you people know anything?
Err…meant to say that if DV says the two events were EXACTLY THE SAME, they are. She’s got the answers to everything.
This strikes me as a metaphor for how he’s going to represent the district/bring home the bacon, while simultaneously demonstrating his own attitude towards the rest of us: it was never about you, it has always been about me.
You Schock supporters ought to realize that Boy Wonder and his band of Merry Men just gave you, me, and everyone else in the city the finger. Isn’t it enough that we have a governor who gets away with doing it?
Interesting precedent for Schock to establish. Do you suppose he’s giving us a foreshadowing of how he’ll operate under an Obama administration? “Just tell me or show me how to act like a big time politiian Barack and I’ll follow suit just as quickly as I can.” I figure every day he doesn’t reimburse the city for these expenses he losing a hundred votes or so.
What about when House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer came to town to stump for Callahan? He got a nice tour of Cat as well. We going to charge for his security?
Puhlease…call your councilperson and request a list of charges from this visit.
The question is why should one policy apply to Schock and another to Obama and everyone else?
Obama is supposed to be the one setting a new higher standard of campaigning and last time I checked the office of President was higher than Congress.
Whether anyone here acknowledges it or not, paying for police protection is a new concept in this country. It doesn’t matter what the event if for and if it is political or not.
Everyone that is so indignant about this event in Peoria really ought to be consistent and be willinig to vote against Obama if he doesn’t reimburse the cities and towns for police protection in all of the places he had fundraisers. I’m waiting for the outcry.
I looked on Hillary, Obama and McCain’s finacial disclosure reports. NO REMIBURSEMENTS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOR POLICE PROTECTION.
They have been campaigning for over a year going to multiple cities every day. Every day they have fundraisers. Every day the Secret Service asks the local police for help. Obama has had large events charging the maximum $28,500 per person.
Some events are larger than others. Free events are designed to get votes. Fundraisers are designed to raise money to get votes. But even if only billing for fundraising events, if this new policy of pay-as-you-go policing for political events, those Presidential campaigns could owe local governments just under $100 million dollars each.
What happens when candidates like McCain who was down in the polls a year ago and his campaign was almost broke, or a candidate like Joe Biden who had an underfunded campaign from start to finish, couldn’t afford to pay for local police protection that the Secret Service required for their campaign fundraisers? Should they just drop out? Only well funded candidates should be able to run?
Because even though Obama has the most well funded campaign in history, even he cannot afford to pay $150,000 or more per day over a year and a half to remimburse local governments for police protection the Secret Service asks for because they deem it necessary to protect the crowds and candidates at events. Remember, mulitiple events in muliple cities each requiring presidential candidate level police protection to complement the Secret Service.
This policy if uniformly applied would keep our Presidents (including a possible future President Obama) in the White House and off the campaign trail. More importantly, it would keep presidential candidates from going around the country. Because not even the Obama campaign could routinely afford to pay for local police protection for all its events.
And why should only political fundraisers have to reimburse local governments for police protection? Why not things like police escorts for the former CIA Director to speak at the Washgington Day Banquet to benefit the Creve Coeur Club? Why not police escorts and extra crowd control for major concerts at the Civic Center? Why not for March Madness. Tickets are not free. Tons of police are required to police the comings and goings of the crowds. Should the basketball association or the Civic Center reimburse the city for the police protection? It’s a huge event. A huge money maker. Not open to anyone without a ticket.
Are political campaigns not an integral part of democracy and therefore Constitutionally in a different category for police protection than basketball tournaments or concerts?
Where does fairness in billing for police protection end and start?
Councilmen Sandberg and Spears would say public rallies that close city streets are OK but private fundraisers are not. How convenient. How selective to design the policy to fit around events they spoke at but not for an event for Aaron Schock. OK, if the fundraising aspect is what compels how you feel on the issue–then again–what about commerical basketball tournaments and concerts?
What if Bradley University has President Obama in Peoria for a fundraiser for the university? Yes? No? Bradley pays for the police protection?
What about political protests that cause the need for extra policing? Should the organizations be charged for the policing they use?
But all you Obama supporters who have blogged on here, speak up. Should Obama pay for the extra police protection each of his fundraising events have cause the need for?
Wow! Great post, Fair. Here is another thought. What about the concept of “double dipping”? If the new guidelines are such that private enterprise shall be required to pay for their own police protection and/or crowd control, then isn’t the city in essence being paid twice? First through taxation and again through private payments. Hey, this could solve our $100 million dollar sewer funding dilemma, especially if we make the new rules retroactive.
Yea great post Fair.
What if, what if, what if…..
I don’t give a s**t what’s going on “in other cities” When this happens again in Peoria, then I would expect whoever organized the fundraiser to reimburse the city. Dem, Repub or Green Party.
I can’t believe the amount of people who think it’s O.K. for the city of Peoria to pay to police A POLITICAL FUNDRAISER. Like enough of our money isn’t pissed away in this city.