# CA city bills POTUS for police overtime due to fundraising event - Should Obama pay this bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 27, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280 "2012-05-27T21:29:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/41 "2012-06-01T20:00:03Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > So you kinda do support a flat tax, not taking those on ability to pay more because they are raking in more. Kinda the opposite of what you said about he can afford it. So your opinion when it is Obama is kind of different when it is everyone else. That isn’t odd. Did you see what the OP was about?? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/42 "2012-06-01T20:13:21Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The Secret Service always works with local law enforcement. The coordinate well in advance for these things. Not when ‘these things’ are private, non-governmental affairs. Obama wasnt in NB in his capacity as acting President; he was in NB as a candidate to be the next President of the US. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/43 "2012-06-01T20:27:15Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Not when ‘these things’ are private, non-governmental affairs. Obama wasnt in NB in his capacity as acting President; he was in NB as a candidate to be the next President of the US. He is still protected by the Secret Service and all the pre-planning that entails. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/44 "2012-06-04T08:23:49Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Protecting citizens is the job of the police and of the State of California. They certainly could legally choose to deploy their officers doing other things. Just ask Dallas how that goes. Are you saying President Kennedy was assassinated because the city of Dallas didn’t provide him with enough security? Look, I’m not anti-Obama. I just don’t automatically dismiss a city that wants the Feds to pick up the bill for all the extra security that entails a presidential visit. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/45 "2012-06-04T09:46:14Z")
As an Obama supporter, I will say I think it’s entirely appropriate for a municipality to seek reimbursement for costs that result from federal election campaigns. However I would hope there is a mechanism to fairly assess what the charges should be, and divide them equally between candidates. If both of the candidates make a stop in a given town, then both candidates ought to split the combined expense. Otherwise, what’s to stop a bunch of like-minded police departments of several municipalities to collude to bleed a campaign dry with selective charging for event costs? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/46 "2012-06-05T07:17:50Z")
Not unless it was agreed to do that up front. They had no obligation to provide this service, and if they did without assuring that they would be paid, that’s their unsound financial decision. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/47 "2012-06-07T05:49:26Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I cry for America. > Is this the very first time in the history of Planet Earth that an incumbent President made a campaign appearance? I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that the answer is No. Cry all you want. It won’t change the fact that this was not a campaign appearance, by an incumbent or anybody else. It was a privately held fundraising event. It was not anything to do with federal policy, and it had nothing to do with the President’s duties. Basically, he showed up to attend a party for his own personal benefit, and the public wasn’t included. It was no more a campaign appearance than was Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/48 "2012-06-07T17:23:03Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > It was no more a campaign appearance than was Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. I didn’t realize Chelsea Clinton got married for the sole purpose of funding her campaign for public office. Could you let me know what election the publicly disclosed campaign contributions she received went to, I can’t seem to find any mention of it. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/49 "2012-06-07T18:46:02Z")
I am for whatever the standard procedure is. I say that without knowing what it is, or stating an opinion on what should be the proper thing to do I feel that Obama specifically, and recent politics generally, are so acrimonious that extreme outliers of bad behavior is being tolerated at a level previously unseen. What used to be bad form, poor etiquette, or just a respect for common decency is now the norm, with Senators wishing death upon another, various gun motifs present in elections, blatant lies, obvious contradictions, etc. So I want a return to some of the courtesy we had in that past. If presidents don’t usually pay for this stuff, if people realize that as part of his job, a president makes these kinds of trips, then I want Newport Beach to shut up. But if presidents generally have a fund to pay for extraneous trips like this, they should do it. ---
**Author:** ![Blkshp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blkshp/32/7135_2.png) [@Blkshp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blkshp)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280/50 "2012-06-07T19:25:10Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > He is still protected by the Secret Service and all the pre-planning that entails. And 35k barely covers hookers and blow… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ca-city-bills-potus-for-police-overtime-due-to-fundraising-event-should-obama-pay-this-bill/623280.md?page=2)