Portland Mayor to Bush: Pay up for cops overtime during campaign stop

Portland Tribune ^ | October 24, 2003 | DON HAMILTON

[nwrep]

Portland's Communist Party Mayor Vera Katz smiles in this transgender day parade photo

Portland wants campaign to pay $116,756 in OT for August visit
By DON HAMILTON     Issue date: Fri, Oct 24, 2003
The Tribune

---

   The city of Portland will ask President Bush to pay the overtime bill that police ran up during his campaign visit to the Rose City last summer.
   It's not the first time and probably won't be the last.
   Mayor Vera Katz says she will send a bill to Bush-Cheney '04, President Bush's re-election committee, for $116,756. Most of it is for police overtime, but a portion would pay for increased employee benefits incurred because of the overtime, said Scott Farris, the mayor's spokesman.
   The city has billed political campaigns in the past for police overtime and will continue to do so in the future, Farris said.
   "This will be an ongoing policy in this administration to bill for any kind of overtime costs associated with political fund-raising events that are not open to the general public, that are clearly not part of an official's official duties," Farris said.
   That means visits next year by the Democratic presidential nominee could generate a similar overtime bill, as would purely political activities of government officials.
   Presidential visits always require additional security, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But Portland's attempts to bill campaigns for police overtime is new, prompted in part by the increased costs to the city from the escalating protests in Portland when Bush visits.
   The city's first bill for police overtime went out last year after President Bush came to town to raise money for Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith's re-election. To be fair, the city later sent a similar bill for overtime to his opponent, Bill Bradbury.
   On Aug. 21, President Bush raised more than $1 million for his re-election during a $2,000-per-person lunch at the University of Portland. Police from many local agencies helped with security as more than 3,000 protesters marched outside the North Portland campus.
   Once the Portland Police Bureau collected its overtime reports, the tab added up to $116,756. The letter requesting reimbursement probably will be sent to the committee sometime next week, Farris said.
   A spokeswoman for Bush-Cheney '04 declined comment. She referred questions to the Secret Service, which determines the level of security necessary for a presidential visit.
   Last year, an overtime bill for $51,346 went to Smith's re-election campaign after three campaign visits: one from President Bush, one from Vice President Dick Cheney and one from House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
   The Aug. 22, 2002, presidential visit accounted for the largest portion of the overtime bill: $38,943. Cheney's June 24, 2002, visit required $8,256 in overtime. The bill was $578 for Hastert's Aug. 14, 2002, stop in Portland.
   The Smith campaign didn't pay the bill sent to it because the president's Aug. 22, 2002, visit involved more than just raising campaign money, said Caroline Mullen, Smith's press secretary.
   During that visit, she said, Bush also met with 18 community leaders to talk Oregon issues. The meeting was held at the Hilton Portland, the site of the Smith fund-raising lunch but was unrelated to politics, Mullen said.
   "The president came and focused on Oregon issues on that visit, and that's invaluable to Oregonians," she said. "When the president, Democrat or Republican, comes to Oregon, it would be unwise to send a signal he's not welcome."
   Last year the city also sent a $1,685 overtime bill to Bradbury, the Democratic Oregon secretary of state who unsuccessfully challenged Smith last year. The bill was for visits from former President Clinton and Sen. Tom Daschle, the Senate Democratic leader.
   Bradbury's campaign sent the city a check for $1,685.
   "These events were specifically for our campaign, and we felt it was our responsibility to pay, said Jules Kopel-Bailey, a Bradbury campaign aide. "We didn't want to shift the burden to the taxpayers of Portland. We paid it and forgot about it."
   Not all cities handle security for such visits the same way. The city of Lexington, Ky., for example, decided against asking for reimbursement for $15,956 in police overtime after an Oct. 9 presidential campaign visit.
   An unexpected overtime bill hurts when the city is cutting services, Farris said.
   "Like most cities across the nation," he said, "we are facing budget shortfalls that threaten our ability to deliver effective municipal services to the community. In order to minimize cutbacks in essential services, it is incumbent on us to reduce or eliminate some of the largest discretionary demands on our budget."
   
   Contact Don Hamilton at-   dhamilton@portlandtribune.com .

[Naspino]

The city has billed political campaigns in the past for police overtime and will continue to do so in the future, Farris said.

Contrast with...

But Portland's attempts to bill campaigns for police overtime is new, prompted in part by the increased costs to the city from the escalating protests in Portland when Bush visits.

I think the message is clear.

[Naspino]

Say what you want but I don't see any problem with this at all.

This sounds almost corrupt though. A leftist mayor with an interest in billing her hated opponent. Conflict of interest if you ask me. She could very well spur protests and make them larger with the overall goal of hurting Bush.

[OregonRepublican]

I was there counter protesting the anti-bush crowd that day, bush shouldnt have to pay anything.