Erie will bill Trump campaign in relation to Saturday's rally
By: GoErie (Erie Times-News)
Donald Trump - Deadbeat-in-Chief
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Erie Mayor Joe Schember's administration will once again seek reimbursement from former President Donald J. Trump's campaign for any taxpayer-funded, employee related costs incurred as a result of Trump's planned Saturday rally at Erie Insurance Arena.
Schember told the Erie Times-News Monday morning that the city plans to pursue reimbursement from the Trump campaign, despite the fact that the former president's campaign committee did not repay more than $35,000 to the city in relation to a Trump rally which took place at Erie Insurance Arena almost five years ago.
Nearly all of the costs the city sought to recover following the Oct. 10, 2018, Make America Great Again rally — which also took place at Erie Insurance Arena, ahead of that year's midterm elections — were related to overtime pay for city workers assigned to cover the event, including police officers.
"I think we have to try, and I feel like my team feels the same way," Schember said. "We're going to see whether we can get some payment from them in advance this time. It's important to do this because we're talking about taxpayer money being used to help make his visit more safe."
Trump, the GOP frontrunner despite being the subject of both state and federal criminal indictments, is scheduled to speak Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Erie Insurance Arena.
Parking lots will open at 8 a.m. Doors will open at 1 p.m. and special guest speakers will begin delivering remarks at 4 p.m.
Schember said city officials, including police, are working on logistics/staffing for the event.
Unpaid reimbursement from last visit
After Trump's October 2018 rally, the city made a formal request for a $35,129 reimbursement from Trump's campaign committee. However, the city received nothing from the Trump campaign, despite the committee, at that time, reporting more than $35.4 million on hand, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
The committee paid $17,500 to rent Erie Insurance Arena for the October 2018 rally.
FEC filings show that currently, Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc. has roughly $22.5 million on hand, and Schember said the city is aware of that.
"Trump has been able to bring in millions of dollars for his campaign," Schember said. "He should be able to easily pay these costs to cities."
Since 2016, when Trump was first elected, other cities across the country have incurred significant costs when hosting Trump rallies, most of them related to public safety and security, and while some cities have received repayments, dozens have not been reimbursed.
Trump supporters and some public officials throughout the country have argued that cities have a responsibility to provide the necessary security for such events and that politicians are rarely asked to reimburse municipalities for security-related expenses related to their visits.
Some officials have also said that Trump's rallies can bring a positive economic impact to municipalities that host them.
Various news outlets, however, have reported that Trump rallies often cost municipalities much more than those of other candidates.
VisitErie, the Erie region's tourism and promotion agency, did not examine the economic impact of the October 2018 Trump visit because the organization believed that impact was minimal, said John Oliver, the group's president.
Schember's pledge to seek reimbursement from the Trump campaign comes two days after an Erie-area resident, Joshua Makowski, launched a petition titled "Ban Trump from Erie until he pays his bill to the city" on change.org.
As of Monday morning, Makowski's petition had 15 signatures and was seeking at least 25.
Makowski, a 45-year-old tattoo artist, told the Times-News he created the petition on Saturday because "I feel our city government should not allow anyone to use city services and not pay their bill. If Mr. Trump isn't held accountable for his first bill.
"I would ask city officials to think about what kind of precedent it sets that a high profile individual can come here, use our city services to promote their campaign, and then leave a $40k bill unpaid."
Trump last spoke in the Erie area on Oct. 20, 2020, during a rally at Erie International Airport in Millcreek Township, just weeks before the Nov. 3 presidential election, which he lost to President Joe Biden.
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They should have sued.
trump's new campaign slogan - the check's in the mail
He wouldn't pay that, either
just wait until he has to cut a check for the doubled defamation damages for e jean carroll and he has another truth social meltdown... f'n moron...
Its funny, way back in 2015 and 2016 people familiar with Trump were telling the world that he didnt pay his bills. The lemmings elected him anyway. Seven years later he is still not paying his bills, and the lemmings are ready to vote for him again. I thought they believed in personal responsibility.
You’ve got to give our mass media credit.
This should not be a surprise to anyone, it's his MO.
the imperial president...
he forgot his wallet...
... nobody had change for a $100K bill.
The check is in the mail....
oops, he forgot to sign it...
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Is that an Elon Musk quotation?
[Y]?
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His usual hive minded drove nonsense.
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Not the first city he's stiffed nor will it be the last
gee, it would really be nice to have daily access to 25+ million trumpster morons that I could bilk for cash...
Too bad you can't just do what Trump does - make an appeal for campaign funds and then keep the money for your personal use.
home of the free mustache ride ...
he paid last time with a handful of 5K chips from one of his bankrupt casinos...
Good Luck! Too many cities have not been paid and I doubt most will ever see a dime.
nobody gets off the trump plane until the check clears...
$500,000 cash bond or no rally!
they could put a boot on the landing gear...
Or just give the deadbeat the boot period.
or maybe fill the jets tires with concrete while he's shitting through his teeth at the rally...
fill the baggage hold with cinder blocks, after removing the boxes of classified materials...
4000' runway and 2000' of attached steel cable...
quualudes in the cockpit...
with everclear chasers...