Grayson Robinson, Colorado Sheriff, Sends Mitt Romney A $25,000 Bill For Campaign Security
What do you get the presidential candidate who has everything? Grayson Robinson (R), Colorado's Arapahoe County Sheriff, suggests sending an invoice.
On February 6, as Colorado Republicans prepared to caucus, Mitt Romney made an appearance at the Arapahoe High School in Centennial. The event required more than 60 deputies to provide security, many of whom Sheriff Robinson had to pay overtime.
Tomorrow, Robinson intends to hand deliver a bill to the Romney campaign for all that extra security. "I think this is the right thing to do," Robinson told CBS4. “Will they pay? I don’t know. I guess I’ll cross that bridge later."
His tab for the evening comes to $25,059.57, including added costs for equipment. Robinson told KMGH the bill is "pretty consistent" with a campaign event, and that he isn't going after Romney in particular. Rather, he believes any campaign dropping serious money on advertising, as Romney has done, should be capable of covering the costs of security as well.
Robinson added that a recent visit by President Barack Obama was an official appearance, not a campaign event, and it would be "inappropriate" to bill the president for security.
A Romney spokeswoman told the AP Robinson's request is the first local security tab the campaign has encountered. She didn't say whether the bill would be paid.
During the 2012 New Hampshire Primary, however, Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas (R) told C-SPAN the Romney campaign had covered the costs of security at a high school there (see video, below). Asked of the city's cost of preparing for the primary, Gatsas responded:
"Well there's no question when you have big groups coming in, you've got police detail and you've got to worry about that… yesterday there was an event that we had at Central High School. I can tell you that Mitt Romney paid for the details of the police officers, and the firemen at that event, and also [other] incurred costs by the city, he picked up that tab."
WATCH Mayor Ted Gatsas tell C-SPAN Romney's campaign paid for security:
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The Huffington Post Ryan Grenoble First Posted: 02/16/2012 6:48 pm Updated: 02/17/2012 11:26 am