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Sanders campaign ponies up to YPD for OT
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Bernie Sanders paid his bill to the city police department for overtime for his visit to Youngstown during the 2016 presidential campaign, but the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have yet to pony up.
The city mailed invoices to all three campaigns Sept. 28 last year. This week they received a check from the Sanders campaign for $5,996.89 for overtime 17 police officers racked up during Sanders’ rally March 14, 2016, at the Covelli Centre.
Still to be paid is a $23,504.95 bill the department sent for overtime to Clinton’s campaign for a July 30, 2016, rally at East High School; and $1,802 by Trump’s campaign for a Sept. 5 visit to the Canfield Fair last year.
Capt. Jason Simon, the department’s fiscal officer, said at the fair the campaign used the department’s bomb squad and other personnel who are members of the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team.
The city will be submitting a bill shortly to the Trump campaign for overtime costs incurred at Trump’s July 25 rally at Covelli, which was part of his campaign. Simon estimated that bill to be about $11,000.
The police department did not bill Trump for overtime when he visited Youngstown State University last year about a week before his Canfield Fair visit because that visit took place during regular business hours and no extra time was incurred, Simon said.
City police Chief Robin Lees said he was actually a bit surprised to see Sanders paid his bill. He said in his experience most campaigns ignore such requests, at least for Youngstown.
“We sent it out hoping that we might get paid, “ Lees said. “The fact that they did pay is good news, but we didn’t hear from the other campaigns, and we weren’t really surprised.”
Lees said the expenses for the Sanders’ rally were not very high because the officers working the rally were only responsible for security inside the downtown arena. He said they did not have to work any traffic details or provide additional security outside the arena.
Simon said the Republican National Committee paid the city an additional $19,262.32 for overtime for officers who worked security at the Republican Convention in Cleveland last year. The RNC had asked for additional officers to work at the convention to help with security.