“Shared sacrifice” apparently means shafting your hometown and letting your victory day celebration bills go unpaid. What happened to “We must all pay?”

The deadbeat fish rots from the head down. Via Sun-Times:

Chicago has yet to recoup the $1.74 million cost of President Obama’s victory celebration in Grant Park — despite a burgeoning $50.5 million budget shortfall that threatens more layoffs and union concessions.

“The Democratic National Committee has not yet paid us,” Peter Scales, a spokesman for the city’s Office of Budget and Management, said Thursday after questions from the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’re reaching out to them this week.”

Stacie Paxton, a spokeswoman for the Obama-controlled DNC, explained the reimbursement delay by saying, “We are still looking at various costs and bills.” She would not say whether parts of the bill are disputed.

The city spent $1 million on police protection for the rally. The Office of Emergency Management and Communications racked up more than $120,000 in expenses, including $19,500 paid to police official Neil Sullivan to quarterback election night logistics.

In late October, Mayor Daley assured that the cash-flush Obama campaign would reimburse the city for every penny spent on the rally. “We have a financial crisis,” he said at the time. “The City of Chicago could not afford $2 million on this because we’re gonna be laying off people, cutting back. That [cost] would really be unfortunate. . . . It’s a huge cost to the City of Chicago.

“This is not a presidential visit. . . . This is a political event, and they’ve agreed to pay for all those services — all the expenses of that. … It’s costly, but they raised quite a bit of money. There’s no [shortage] of money in that campaign.”

Here’s how the S-T broke out the bill:

Police $1 million
Emergency Management and Communications Office $121,578
Fire Department $85,965
Streets and Sanitation $71,694
Transportation $49,659
Cultural Affairs $2,567
Environment $2,309
CTA $201,500
Chicago Park District $202,440
(Park District breakdown):
Giant video boards $68,900
Electrical $37,185
Sound $37,500
Stagehands $29,850
Portable toilets $12,500
Security $7,505
Stage rental $6,000
Bike racks, barricades $2,000
Heavy equipment $1,000
Total bill $1,737,712

Personal responsibility for thee, but not for He.

~ For the latest breaking news, be sure to join Michelle's e-mail list ~

Posted in: Barack Obama

Printer Friendly

comments (15)  

See what others have said

Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.

Comments

1. #1
   On February 20th, 2009 at 8:45 am, Jeff2161 said:

   Well, well. What a surprise.

2. #2
   On February 20th, 2009 at 8:58 am, Auggie Dog said:

   Bills! The one don’t care about no stinkin bills! Change means creating bills, not paying them, that’s the middle classes job. What the hell were you people thinking? Bills…

3. #3
   On February 20th, 2009 at 8:59 am, CyberCipher said:

   OT:**Breaking News on Fox**

   The monkey with the bright blue scr*tum that escaped from Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle yesterday has been captured. Somehow, the monkey found his way to a downtown Seattle ACORN office where the authorities tracked him down using a police department K-9 unit. The monkey appeared to be attemping to avoid capture by hiding amongst piles of boxes containing bogus 2010 ballots. Mysteriously, the ballots had all been marked up (fraudulently) so as to select incumbant Democratic Senator Patty Murray for re-election in 2010. When asked, ACORN officials denied that they had any knowledge of any animals that had escaped from the Woodland Park Zoo — in spite of the fact that the monkey was wearing a “Get out the vote!” T-shirt when he was captured.

   My collie says:

   When queried regarding the incident, spokespersons for Senator Murray’s office replied, “Well that’s just silly propaganda that’s being peddled by the vast right wing conspiracy. Besides, everyone knows that George W. Bush votes exclusively for Republicans.”

4. #4
   On February 20th, 2009 at 9:05 am, Truesoldier said:

   Why do I have a feeling that this story could be tied to the Obama administrations talk of Stimulus 2? I mean we already have seen how Democrats like to use our tax dollars for personal use.

   A bit off topic, but did any of you see that the Postmaster General got a huge raise and bonus from Congress(to be more specific our taxes)despite the post office having serious financial problems? I seem to remember Congress chiding businesses for taking TARP money and doing the same.

5. #5
   On February 20th, 2009 at 9:08 am, RedDog said:

   Neo-communists on the move!

   These ’60s dilettante “revolutionaries” are going to find out what real revolution is shortly. You can’t continue to bully, beat and rob working people and expect no repercussions. The worm is turning…

6. #6
   On February 20th, 2009 at 9:56 am, jbh45 said:

   Let daley’s machine pick up the tab. I’m sure they can roll a few more heavies…

7. #7
   On February 20th, 2009 at 10:02 am, rocketman said:

   ***
   CYBERCYPHER must have found the “good stuff” and is hitting the bong big time! Funny post. Keep the collie away from the tequila.
   ***
   John Bibb
   ***

8. #8
   On February 20th, 2009 at 10:55 am, Fineous Reese said:

   that’s sad but funny.

   side note, is there an open quote tag somewhere?

9. #9
   On February 20th, 2009 at 11:21 am, prendad said:

   Why doesn’t the city of Chicago just put a lien on Obama’s house in Hyde Park. I bet that would get some attention.

10. #10
    On February 20th, 2009 at 11:37 am, txvet2 said:

    On February 20th, 2009 at 10:55 am, Fineous Reese said:

    that’s sad but funny.

    side note, is there an open quote tag somewhere?

    Yeah, but nobody knows enough about computers and the internet to fix it.

    (Just kidding, Michelle.)

11. #11
    On February 20th, 2009 at 11:38 am, wighttrasch said:

    I’ll have some of what CyberCipher is having…

12. #12
    On February 20th, 2009 at 11:46 am, teachem2 said:

    On February 20th, 2009 at 11:21 am, prendad said:
    Why doesn’t the city of Chicago just put a lien on Obama’s house in Hyde Park. I bet that would get some attention.

    Oooh, I like that idea!

13. #13
    On February 20th, 2009 at 12:05 pm, pueblo1032 said:

    Shame on CHICAGO for not getting a BOND upfront… As we used to say in the military, “their chances of collecting, NONE and NO F***ING CHANCE”… To quote that great AMERICAN, FORREST GUMP, “stupid is as stupid does”…

14. #14
    On February 20th, 2009 at 12:48 pm, PKAmmoTroop said:

    Police – $1 million!

    Screw ‘em, they’re working men and women dedicating their lives to a higher cause than they’re own petty desires. Not the kind of people we want in the Democrat party.

15. #15
    On February 20th, 2009 at 3:42 pm, cheapseat said:

    the taxpayers of the city of chicago will happily pick up that tab for the one. it was after all an event benefitting all those illinois residents. sarc.

You must be logged in to post a comment.