Unfair
According to the Center for Public Integrity, at least three-dozen municipal governments and law enforcement agencies nationwide say presidential campaigns have ignored hundreds of thousands of dollars in outstanding bills stemming from police security for campaign events.
The center reported Trump owed nearly $204,000, and likely more, to municipalities for campaign events across the country. Hillary Clinton’s campaign owed at least $25,000. Trump held more rallies nationwide than Clinton during the campaign.
All politics might be local, as former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O’ Neill once said. But we would argue your wallet is a little too local.
Why should taxpayers foot the bill for the expenses surrounding candidate visits? “Because the candidates themselves won’t pay” isn’t a good enough answer.
But that’s usually how it works: Local municipalities often bill campaigns for expenses, but those bills are rarely paid.
In some cases, municipalities don’t bother asking for reimbursement because costs are minimal or because they know they’re not going to be paid.
This is not a partisan issue. Taxpayers, regardless of party affiliation, should not have to pay for campaign events in which they may or may not have an interest. For the political candidates and their campaigns, this should be the cost of doing business.
According to the Center for Public Integrity report, neither the Trump nor Clinton campaign acknowledges in federal campaign financial disclosures that it owes cities any money.
A brilliant strategy when you think about it. Try applying that approach to your gas bill. You’ll be burning your dining room chairs by February.
The Sanders campaign, on the other hand, says in federal campaign filings that it owes $449,409, spread among nearly two-dozen municipalities and law enforcement agencies.
The campaign didn’t say it was going to pay the bill, but it was at least willing to admit a bill existed.
We do send kudos to the Sanders campaign for reimbursing Millersville Borough and the university $1,851.93 for police overtime and traffic detours and $8,570.90 for university police and other costs for his visit in April.
Some municipalities are beginning to take the issue seriously. The City of Philadelphia has sent collection letters to the Clinton campaign for an unpaid $2,678 bill from a City Hall rally.
But Mayor Jim Kenney shouldn’t hold his breath. Municipalities can’t force campaigns to pay unless they sign a formal, contractual agreement with them, which is rare.
We’ve heard politicians offer lip service to the issue of campaign finance reform. As part of that effort, why not make a law requiring candidates to pay for their own events instead of leaving the taxpayers with the tab?
There’s a novel idea: Relieve the local taxpayers’ burden. If politics is indeed local, it doesn’t get any more local than that.
LancasterOnline