Even for Clinton, City Is Unwilling to Foot the Bill

CINCINNATI — The president came here a few months back.

But was he truly the president?

We’re not talking impostors. This was Bill Clinton, no doubt about it. Yet he came here not on presidential business but for a private fund-raiser. He hopped off Air Force One, drove straight to a filet mignon and rhubarb cobbler dinner, then sped right back to the airport.

Total time in the Cincinnati region: four hours and six minutes.

Money raised for the Democratic Party: $500,000.

Public ire generated: Lots.

Seems some folks here--including the sheriff--feel that local taxpayers should not have had to cover the cost of providing security for Clinton’s motorcade, since he came on a private, partisan mission. He was here, they argue, as head of the Democratic Party, not as president of the United States. And he was raking in big bucks to boot. So why should the public pay for the scores of officers and the hovering helicopter deployed to keep him safe?

“It’s the principle,” said Steve Barnett, the sheriff’s spokesman. “We don’t feel that taxpayers should be put in a position where they’re forced to pay for a fund-raiser for either party.”

Ridiculous, Democratic officials respond.

The president is the president is the president. His safety is a public responsibility. So he needs security whether he’s shopping for Christmas gifts, touring earthquake damage or shaking hands at a $10,000-a-plate dinner. Say, for instance, he visits an ailing aunt in Little Rock, Ark. He doesn’t suddenly become just another dutiful nephew. He remains our president. And local cops need to pitch in to protect him if the Secret Service requests help.

“People don’t understand the system,” Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Jenny Backus complained.

To be sure, when Clinton travels solely for fund-raising, the DNC by law must reimburse taxpayers for the cost of flying Air Force One. (When the president combines public events and private fund-raising, as he often does, the DNC and taxpayers split the tab according to a government formula.)

But the law doesn’t hold the DNC responsible for security expenses.

That’s up to the Secret Service--and the municipality that has the honor of hosting a presidential visit.

Cincinnati is not the only town to consider such an honor dubious at best.

The sheriff covering Aspen, Colo., complained strenuously in 1998 and again last summer when Clinton stopped by solely for swank fund-raisers. Protecting Clinton on these visits was “a huge hit on our budget,” Deputy Joe DiSalvo said. Locals, he added, felt ripped off.

“To incur a $75,000 cost over two years and he never once gets out and shakes hands, well, that doesn’t sit well locally, and we’re a big Democratic community,” DiSalvo said.

Despite such griping, Backus said, the DNC will “absolutely not” change its policy.

The party refused to pay a bill for $8,490.34 that Sheriff Simon Leis in Cincinnati sent the DNC. And Leis was forced to drop a lawsuit against the DNC when the county prosecutor ruled that the sheriff had no standing to sue on taxpayers’ behalf.

The flap has embarrassed some Cincinnati residents, such as computer programmer Doug Mayhugh”If you’re going to host the president, you should provide security,” he reasoned.

Others, however, continue to stew.

That residual anger worries Cincinnati Councilman Tyrone K. Yates. Although he would like the DNC to pay for security at its fund-raisers, he condemns the sheriff’s much-publicized attempt to sue for reimbursement.

“Such an action unleashes passions and emotions,” Yates warned, “to the point where you might even get some kook [so riled up] he decides to harm the president.”