The Obama campaign still owes $55,000 in police overtime costs from a 2008 Obama campaign rally, says Springfield Alderman Frank Edwards. According to Chicago’s 89 WLS:
President Obama’s campaign has raised millions of dollars, but officials in Springfield Illinois are still griping about an upaid bill from a 2008 campaign rally.
When he was a candidate in August of 2008, Barack Obama used Springfield as a backdrop to introduce Joe Biden as his running mate. However Springfield Alderman Frank Edwards tells WLS that the Obama campaign has refused to pay $55,000 it owes in police overtime costs:
“If you’re going to go after your citizens for bills they owe you then everybody’s in. And that’s just kind of the way I look at it. I think if the Obama campaign owes us money they ought to pay it.”
Edwards says the Obama campaign has given him and other Springfield officials the runaround when they have asked to be paid what is owed.
He also says with Obama planning to hold his election night rally next month at McCormick Place in Chicago, he would advise Mayor Rahm Emanuel to demand all payments upfront, for any costs Chicago taxpayers might incur.
The Secret Service told WLS that they do not financially compensate the police for overtime associated with protective visits.
