The town of Durham has reported that the costs of the Obama visit–which the Obama campaign refused to pay for–cost the town $19,851.00. But it will only cost the anonymous donor around $13,000.00 because…
c/o Gretyl MacAlaster -July 31st Union Leader
“…town public safety officials were able to reduce local costs through careful distribution of available personnel, and some agencies opted not to bill the Town of Durham for services provided as part of the presidential campaign stop.
The Dover, Farmington and University of New Hampshire police departments assisted on the day of the event, as did the Strafford County Sheriff’s Office and UNH Fire Department. Rochester and Barrington also assisted but will not be billing the town for services provided. The remaining cost to the town of Durham for fire and safety personnel was $12,998.29, which will be covered by the anonymous donor.”
So all that assistance was donated by the individuals who did the work, right? All those other officers and safety personnel put in their own time with their own equipment, to defray the expenses the Obama campaign had thrust upon the people of Durham for his campaign stop? If yes, then we need to ask…did they just make an in-kind donation to the Obama campaign for $7,000.00 dollars?
If not, then those taxpayer expenses were not cut by Durham they were shifted to other public entities and other taxpayers. Durham simply spread the debt around.
And that anonymous donor who wants to remain anonymous, they are still (technically) paying for $13,000.00 in OFA campaign expenses, that would not have existed had the campaign not created them.
