40 MILLION Dollar Presidential Inauguration !

Some Now Question Cost of Inauguration

Thu Jan 13,11:32 PM ET

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites)'s second inauguration will cost tens of millions of dollars — $40 million alone in private donations for the balls, parade and other invitation-only parties. With that kind of money, what could you buy?

 

_200 armored Humvees with the best armor for troops in Iraq (news - web sites).


_Vaccinations and preventive health care for 22 million children in regions devastated by the tsunami.


_A down payment on the nation's deficit, which hit a record-breaking $412 billion last year.


_Two years' salary for the Mets' new center fielder Carlos Beltran, or all of pitcher Randy Johnson's contract extension with the New York Yankees.


Weeks ago, the inauguration and its accompanying costs were considered a given, an historic ceremony with all the pomp, pageantry and celebrations that the nation had come to expect every four years.


But a recent confluence of events — the tsunami natural disaster, Bush's warning about Social Security (news - web sites) finances and the $5 billion-a-month price tag for the war in Iraq — have many Americans now wondering why spend the money the second time around.


While the Presidential Inaugural Committee hopes to raise $40 million in private donations for the balls, parades and candlelight dinners for high-roller donors, millions of government dollars will be spent on construction of the platform and stands at the Capitol, police overtime, military personnel and the tightest security for the first post-Sept. 11 inaugural.


The questions have come from Bush supporters and opponents: Do we need to spend this money on what seems so extravagant?


New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat, suggested inaugural parties should be scaled back, citing as a precedent Roosevelt's inauguration during World War II.


"President Roosevelt held his 1945 inaugural at the White House, making a short speech and serving guests cold chicken salad and plain pound cake," according to a letter from Weiner and Rep. Jim McDermott (news, bio, voting record), D-Wash. "During World War I, President Wilson did not have any parties at his 1917 inaugural, saying that such festivities would be undignified."


Lawmakers representing the Washington area have complained to the White House about the District of Columbia not getting enough federal help to cover the estimated $17.3 million security costs of the inaugural.


Organizers of the inaugural defended the celebration.


"The inauguration of a United States president is one of America's greatest traditions, a tradition that transcends partisan politics," said Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. "Our theme is celebrating freedom and honoring service."


She cited the Commander in Chief inaugural ball that offers free tickets to service members back from Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq and their family members. That ball is one of nine; the other eight require a ticket.


"Every inaugural there's a really good reason given why you should spend whatever donors are sending in on something else," said Rich Galen, a veteran Republican activist, saying many of the complaints come from the losers of the election.


Billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, voted for Bush — twice. Cuban knows a thing or two about big spending, once starring in ABC's reality TV show, "The Benefactor," in which 16 contenders tried to pass his test for success and win $1 million.


Cuban questioned spending all that money on the inaugural.

"As a country, we face huge deficits. We face a declining economy. We have service people dying. We face responsibilities to help those suffering from the ... devastation of the tsunamis," he wrote on his blog, a Web journal.

Cuban challenged Bush to set an example: "Start by canceling your inauguration parties and festivities."

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Will Lester covers polling and politics for The Associated Press.

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On the Net:

Mark Cuban blog: http://www.blogmaverick.com

source: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&u=/ap/20050114/ap_on_go_pr_wh/inaugural_price_tag_3&printer=1

Cuban: Cancel inaugural excess
Mavericks owner calls on Bush to donate funds to tsunami relief

10:20 PM CST on Thursday, January 6, 2005
By COLLEEN McCAIN NELSON / The Dallas Morning News

Dear Mr. President: Please cancel your inaugural festivities and give the money to tsunami victims. Sincerely, Mark Cuban.
The Dallas Mavericks owner is urging readers of his Web log ( blogmaverick.com) to contact politicians and tell them to get their priorities straight. In an emphatic missive on his Web site, Mr. Cuban criticizes Congress for making what he calls frivolous expenditures and chastises everyone involved with elaborate inaugural events.

AP
Security is tight around the Capitol where the inauguration will take place Jan 20.

"Mr. President, it's time to show that leadership. It's time to set an example," wrote Mr. Cuban, who declined to comment further on the subject. "Cancel all but the most basic inauguration requirements."
President Bush will be inaugurated Jan. 20. That week, he will be feted with the customary black-tie balls, a parade and an assortment of star-powered events. The price tag: about $40 million.

source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/010705dnnatinaug.dbd5d.html
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Published on Sunday, January 9, 2005 by the Guardian/UK

Bush 'The King' Blows $50m on Coronation
President's lavish inauguration is 'obscene' when US troops are dying in Iraq war, say critics

by Paul Harris

 

It will be one of the biggest parties in American history, but half of the country will be left out. With a price tag of up to $50 million, President George W Bush's inauguration in 11 days' time will be an unashamed celebration of Red America's victory over Blue America in last November's election.

It is going to be the most expensive, most security-obsessed event in the history of Washington DC. An army of 10,000 police, secret service officers and FBI agents will patrol the capital for four days of massive celebrations that some critics have derided as reminiscent of the lavish shindigs thrown by Louis XIV, France's extravagant Sun King.

More than 150,000 people, nearly all Republicans whose tickets are a reward for election work, will pack the Mall to hear Bush take his oath of office on 20 January. There will be nine official balls, countless unofficial ones, parades and a concert hosted by Bush's daughters, Jenna and Barbara.

Amid the official pageantry will be many huge parties laid on by companies wishing to win favor with Washington's power players. Anyone who is anyone in Republican circles will be in town. Many Democrats will be leaving. With so many big names in one place, security measures will include road blocks, anti-aircraft guns guarding the skies and sniper teams patrolling the rooftops.

Many observers say it is all too much. 'We have elected a President who seems to have quite a monarchical role. It is a bit of a coronation,' said Larry Haas, a former official in Bill Clinton's White House.

Certainly, Bush's inauguration will be an orgy of gladhanding and partying by the Republican faithful from all over the country. One Washington hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, is offering visitors four nights in its Presidential Suite for $200,000. The price tag includes a 24-hour butler, a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce or Humvee, daily champagne and caviar and a flight to the hotel in a private jet.

One highlight of the bonanza is the Black Tie and Boots Ball organized by Bush's home state of Texas, with the President as star guest. Ten thousand tickets sold out in less than 50 minutes, and are now trading privately at $1,300 each. Another is the Commander-in-Chief's Ball where Bush will honor American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is billed as the centerpiece of the inauguration, which itself has a theme tinged with the idea of military service.

All the partying is being condemned by many commentators as in poor taste for a nation fighting a bloody war.

Carroll Wilson, editor of the Texas newspaper the Times Record (Wichita Falls Tx.), has called the cost obscene and 'a horrendous waste'. 'There's something inherently embarrassing about spending $50m on a party that will start and end in the blink of a very red eye,' he added.

The fighting in Iraq has provoked calls for the celebrations to be toned down, as they were during the two world wars when some were even canceled. Bush's second inauguration will be the first in wartime since President Richard Nixon took office in 1969 during the Vietnam conflict.

Yet the partying is being intensified. The Commander-in-Chief's Ball is being hailed by organizers as a fitting tribute to American soldiers on active service. More than 2,000 troops and their partners, selected by the Pentagon, will take part. Most have served in Iraq or Afghanistan or are about to go there. The parades will have a stronger than normal military theme.

That angers many anti-war protesters who say the lavish celebration is inappropriate during conflict. Some conservative commentators have even joined the fray, contrasting the spending with a recent scandal over a shortage of armor for American soldiers and their vehicles.

A huge series of demonstrations is now being planned which organizers say will be much larger than the ones that marked Bush's first inauguration after the contested Florida recount in 2000. 'We want our voices to be heard,' said a spokesman for the Answer Coalition, which is co-ordinating the protests.

The huge security presence means there is likely to be little disruption, especially of the oath-taking ceremony itself. More vulnerable may be the corporate events taking place all over the city.

The $50m bill is mostly being paid by private donations from people and firms currying political favor With a strict ban on large single donations to active political campaigns, the inauguration offers a rare chance for companies and individuals to lavish large sums of money on the President and his party simultaneously.

The big donors are split into 'underwriters', who stumped up $250,000 each, and 'sponsors', who merely shelled out $100,000. Both gain access to a variety of events that will be attended by Bush. The donors are a familiar roster of Republican supporters and big business. They include firms in the President's former business, oil, such as Exxon Mobil and ChevronTexaco, former Enron president Richard Kinder and Texas oil baron Boone Pickens, who also gave $500,000 to the anti-John Kerry campaign of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Though the guests will be celebrating Bush's victory, some Washington insiders will also be keeping a keen eye on the jockeying for position that has already begun for the next election.

'The clock to 2008 starts ticking the second after Bush finishes his oath,' Haas said 'At that moment Republicans begin moving into position for that. Bush should enjoy his moment while he can.'

source: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0109-31.htm