The city of Springfield recently sent a bill for
$50,000 to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign to cover costs incurred
during the rally Obama held to introduce his running mate, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., at the Old
State Capital in August.
But when Obama announced his candidacy for the
presidency back in February 2007, the city was more than eager to take the
hit. “Everything that we’re putting forward — from our
police department to our public works department, certainly — is
going to pay off in dividends for everything that we’re going to get
in return,” Mayor Tim Davlin said at the time [See R.L. Nave, “Big-top
Barack,” Feb. 8, 2007]
City Hall spokesman Ernie
Slottag says this year’s event,
also held at the Old State Capitol site and attended by about 30,000 people
by the estimation of the Obama campaign, drew a crowd twice the size of
Obama’s presidential launch.
“In our current economic climate, ya know,
overtime costs money,” Slottag says.
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2008.
