As President Obama continues his West Coast fundraising during amid global crises, concerns flare over who exactly is footing the bill. The Washington Examiner,
“And if Obama includes a public event on a trip otherwise dedicated to convincing supporters to write checks, the Democratic National Committee and other party arms that benefit only have to pay back a fraction of the Air Force One travel costs…
“Like many of his predecessors, Obama tends to piggyback official events onto fundraising trips, further diminishing the costs the DNC must repay the U.S. Treasury, and figuring out the details of just how much they must reimburse taxpayers for the mixed trips is complicated and opaque, confounding even the most experience federal election law experts…
“Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, says the reimbursement rate on mixed events has remained a mystery over the course of several presidencies and only the White House counsel knows the formula…
“Regardless of the murky laws requiring some level of reimbursement, McGehee said taxpayers end up footing most of the president’s fundraising travel bill.”
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