Two July 2014 fundraising trips taken by President Obama to Colorado and New York cost taxpayers nearly $1.2 million, according to new documents released by taxpayer watchdog group Judicial Watch.
The documents, obtained by the group through a Freedom of Information Act request sent to the Department of Air Force, show that Obama's use of Air Force One to travel to both fundraising events cost taxpayers a total of $1,159,823.50. That's $210,877 per flying hour.
Obama first flew to Denver for a July 9 luncheon/night on the town hosted by the 2014 Colorado Victory Fund, a joint fundraising effort between the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.
The visit consisted of Obama spending his first evening at "a crowded pizza restaurant and a pool bar," said the Associated Press. The following day, Obama gave a speech in a Denver park before headlining a fundraiser for Udall, who didn't even attend the event, according to Judicial Watch.
Obama's two-day trip to Denver cost $695,894.10 for Air Force One alone.
Next, the president took a July 17-18 trip to New York City to attend a LGBT fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, where he also reportedly raised money for the Democratic group Senate Majority PAC. Transportation to these events cost taxpayers $463,929.40.
These numbers are strictly regarding the costs of transportation associated with Air Force One. Not included is the cost of Obama's Secret Service security detail, or costs associated with White House staffers who may have tagged along. Judicial Watch said the Secret Service has yet to respond to their requests for documents regarding security costs.
There are various considerations that determine whether such trips are considered "official" or "political," and if it is determined that a trip is in fact political or unofficial in nature, those involved (Democratic Party, etc.) "must pay for their own food, lodging and other related expense, and must also reimburse the government with the equivalent of the airfare that they would have paid had they used a commercial airline," according to the Congressional Research Service.
Reimbursement information is not typically made public by administrations, but it seems likely that the involved private parties did reimburse the government for some of the incurred expenses from these two trips. But it may not have been much, and we may never know the exact amount taxpayers paid for costs not associated with transportation, according to Pete Sepp of the nonpartisan nonprofit National Taxpayers Union.
"Usually, a political party only covers a fraction of the costs of presidential travel, usually in the single digit percentages," Sepp told CNN. "Most of the money raised really comes at a free cost to the parties. They only reimburse for a few hundred thousand dollars, on a given trip, if taxpayers are lucky."
While President Bush was in the White House, taxpayers paid for about 97 percent of the presidential travel, while the Republican Party paid only 3 percent, said CNN.
Regardless of how much various private parties may have reimbursed the government for Obama's two fundraising events, what we can be certain of is that the majority of costs associated with these private presidential fundraising trips were still footed by the taxpayer. According to the Congressional Research Service, regardless of whether a trip is for official or political purposes, "the Air Force pays all operational and other costs incurred by the use of the aircraft."
So the question is: Why are taxpayers paying the bill for the privately owned political parties and their fundraising events? Or, as Judicial Watch previously reported, how about: Why are taxpayers paying more than $16 million for presidential family vacations?
