Department of Stiffing communities

If I didn't know better (because the Bush-Fuck You campaign is always gloating about how much money they have raised), I'd think that the Bush-Cheney campaign was almost tapped out of funds. Why else would taxpayers in budget-crunched municipalities have to fund campaign rallies that they might not even be able to attend, unless they sign loyalty oaths that is....
Mind boggling.
Beloit Daily News:

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) - The Bush-Cheney campaign has paid La Crosse $7,822 for part of the city's expenses from President George W. Bush's May 7 rally, a newspaper reported.
But other Wisconsin communities that billed the campaign for expenses from Bush's visit that day have not been fully reimbursed, the La Crosse Tribune reported.

Prairie du Chien, for example, has not received the $12,249 it billed for Bush's visit.

"When I talked with the Bush/Cheney headquarters, they suggested they were not liable, and we should bill the Secret Service," said Mayor Cheryl Mader. "I do not anticipate that we will be getting any payment."


La Crosse, Prairie du Chien and Viroqua were among several communities Bush visited during his May 7 tour of the Mississippi River farmlands in Iowa and Wisconsin. ...The communities spent thousands of dollars in providing security for the president.

La Crosse Common Council voted to charge the Bush-Cheney campaign $7,822, rather than the entire bill of more than $60,000.

Dubuque billed the campaign $10,217, but received $1,400 paid at the time of the visit, said Jean Nachtman, assistant finance director.

The rest of the bill was for security, and Dubuque's finance office was told to forward the charges to the Secret Service, she said.

Viroqua has not received any of the $4,026 it billed the campaign, said City Clerk Jodi Garibaldi.

La Crosse Mayor John Medinger said he wanted the city to get reimbursed for every dollar spent on campaign visits.

"It's not a partisan issue, it's an economic issue," he said. "By the time the year is over, we could have spent over $200,000 (on presidential and vice presidential visits). If I had put a line item for $200,000 for campaign visits, I believe there would have been outrage. Taxpayers would have said no."

Medinger has asked the state's Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager for an opinion on what share of the bill Wisconsin municipalities should pay for presidential and vice presidential campaign visits. "

link via Digby