This is going to sound familiar, but there’s a point.
The Bush campaign reached Mankato, Minn., yesterday for another rally in a key swing state. When local residents went to pick up tickets, however, they were asked if they’re Bush backers. Once again, the policy was no support, no tickets.
I guess it could have been worse; they could have been asked to sign loyalty oaths. Nevertheless, the Mankato trip had a bit of a twist.
When residents, including some kids of local lawmakers, were denied free tickets, they raised a fuss. To quell a controversy, they were ultimately given passes. As it turns out, it wasn’t enough to actually get them in the door.
Nick Burkhardt and Matt Klaber of Mankato initially were denied rally tickets after making unfavorable comments about the president while waiting in line for three hours. They later were given tickets, but when they got off the shuttle bus at the quarry they were told they couldn’t go in.
So, once again, ticket-holders were denied entry to a Bush appearance because organizers didn’t like their ideology. In fact, a teacher who defended the kids got thrown out as well.
They agreed to leave, but a Mankato West High School teacher who was accompanying them says he also was asked to leave when he tried to defend the boys.
Global geography teacher Jim Walz said he wanted to stay and was told by a Bush official that he would be arrested and escorted out if he made any attempt to protest during the rally.
But wait, this isn’t just another rant; I’m going somewhere with this.
Newsweek had an item in the current issue about the financial burdens on communities that host campaign visits. It’s exciting to have a president come to your town, but in some cases, these communities, which hardly have extra money lying around, would like to be reimbursed.
With Election 2004 focused on a short list of battleground states, more cash-strapped cities and small towns — already on the receiving end of multiple presidential campaign swings — are asking the federal government or the campaigns themselves to pick up the tab for employee overtime and extra security costs. The mayor of York, Pa., recently asked the Bush campaign for $21,057 to help cover the costs of a four-hour visit by the president. Dubuque, Iowa, was one of several cities to send the president a bill for the first time after a Midwestern campaign swing in May.
Naturally, this hasn’t really worked out and these cities do not get compensated. As Newsweek explained, the law requires campaigns to pay for airfare and staffing but leaves the public holding the bill for security costs and related event logistics.
In fact, there’s nothing in the rules that says campaigns, or the federal government, have to give a penny to reimburse localities for the big expenses involved in a major candidate’s visit.
This seems a little easier to justify when the campaigns can argue that the events are for the community and open to the public, so the community should shoulder the costs.
But as is now painfully obvious, Bush campaign events are in no way open to the public. Indeed, they openly and unabashedly discriminate even among ticket-holders.
So, here’s my question: if Bush insists on holding exclusive, private rallies in which his campaign excludes (and in some cases, arrests) taxpayers with whom the president disagrees, shouldn’t Bush be expected to pick up the tab?