Cheney costs undisclosed

The Republican Party of Idaho won’t disclose how much it will cost to bring Vice President Dick Cheney and Air Force Two to Coeur d’Alene today.

Executive Director Jayson Ronk is adamant that it won’t cost Idaho taxpayers a cent. But he declined to give a breakdown of potential expenses.

Ronk also wouldn’t say whether the state GOP, Republican National Committee or U.S. Secret Service would reimburse the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department, Coeur d’Alene Police Department and other law enforcement agencies for providing security and traffic and crowd control, or for potential overtime costs.

These agencies also are mum, saying it’s unknown if any overtime will even be needed for the brief visit. Cheney will be in town about 70 minutes and won’t leave the Empire Air hangar at the Coeur d’Alene Airport.

Cheney and his wife, Lynne, are expected to land at 5:05 p.m. The vice president is expected to give a speech to more than 2,000 people, including most statewide and local Republican candidates, before his plane’s scheduled departure at 6:15 p.m.

Free tickets for the rally are still available, but Brad Corkill, chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, said people should show up at GOP headquarters in Coeur d’Alene early this morning.

“The doors open at 8 a.m.,” Corkill said Wednesday evening. “I wouldn’t get here much later.”

He said that more than 2,000 tickets have been requested and that many people still need to pick up their vouchers. The office, at 1113 Sherman Ave., closes at 2 p.m.

Kootenai County Commissioner Rick Currie said the county has a responsibility to ensure public safety and allocate a certain amount of manpower for logistics.

Currie acknowledged that taxpayers will pay for county employees to do their jobs today.

“It will be taking them away from other duties they might be doing,” Currie said, adding that the county “sort of has to accept those responsibilities.”

Yet he said he is concerned that staffers, specifically Sheriff’s Department employees, might end up working extra hours because of the vice president’s visit.

He said Sheriff Rocky Watson has the discretion to decide whether the county will pay for overtime, give deputies comparable time off or bill the GOP.

Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger declined to comment on the department’s options.

“I won’t have any costs until it’s all done and over with,” Wolfinger said, referring all further questions to the Secret Service.

The Secret Service office in Spokane didn’t return repeated phone calls.

Initially Ronk referred all questions on costs to the White House. The White House referred all finance inquiries to Ronk, who said he didn’t have any details.

“We won’t get into any details other than it will be paid for and sponsored by the Republican Party,” he said. “It is not paid for by taxpayer dollars. That’s about as far as I go right now.”

When Cheney visited Boise in August to stump for Bill Sali, the Republican candidate running in the 1st Congressional District, Sali pledged to reimburse the city of Boise about $4,500 in police expenses. The reimbursement came after people questioned whether taxpayers should subsidize private political functions.

In a written statement to the Idaho Statesman, Sali, a state representative from Kuna who is vying against Democrat Larry Grant, said that as a supporter of smaller government and lower taxes he couldn’t condone the use of taxpayer money for campaign events.

The same question arose in April when Cheney was in Spokane for a fundraiser at the Davenport Hotel for Republican senatorial candidate Mike McGavick.

City taxpayers footed the bill for costs such as traffic control and crowd management. The Spokane Police Department paid more than $17,000 in overtime for officers to control crowds, escort the motorcade and help with security. That money was not reimbursed by the McGavick campaign or the state GOP, which collected $11,500 from the event.

Chuck Oxley, spokesman for the Idaho Democratic Party, said the GOP should offer a cost estimate to prove taxpayers aren’t subsidizing a political function.

Oxley said taxpayers should pay if Cheney visits for an official government function. But today’s appearance seems to be purely political, he said.

“If that visit is … partisan in nature, fundraiser or not, the party who is pushing for their idea or agenda ought to pay for it,” Oxley said. “Is he here wearing his vice president hat or is he here wearing his Dick Cheney superstar hat?”

Unlike the vice president’s other recent trips to Idaho and Washington, today’s stop isn’t a fundraiser for any one candidate. Instead, it’s billed as a “victory rally” to energize Republican voters in the days before Tuesday’s general election.

Cheney was in Kalispell, Mont., Wednesday and will head to Colorado on Friday for similar events.

“This is to rally the troops,” said Megan McGinn, the vice president’s deputy press secretary.