Cheney's double, super-secret trip
Vice President Dick Cheney will drop into Salt Lake City on Friday to speak to the Council for National Policy, a group so private even its members are encouraged not to mention the name.
Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will also address the group as will the Czech Republic president and Congressman Chris Cannon.
But don't expect to see any coverage of the event as the meeting of hundreds of the nation's most powerful conservative activists is confidential.
The council is a "private membership group whose meetings are closed to the media," director Steve Baldwin informed me this morning.
But there is a bright side. Several readers have asked me why taxpayers should be footing the bill for Cheney to give what would be a political speech to a private group -- and the answer is, they aren't.
"Taxpayers do not cover political activity costs," Cheney's office said this morning.
Federal law restricts taxpayers from paying for any event held by a candidate for the Senate or House or political events unrelated to official business. So while you may see television images of Air Force Two on Friday, your tax dollars won't be paying for it to fly.
Of course, there are ancillary costs which Joe and Jane Taxpayer ARE paying. Those include Secret Service protection, the Air Force 2 crew and personal staff of the VEEP.
-- Thomas Burr
Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will also address the group as will the Czech Republic president and Congressman Chris Cannon.
But don't expect to see any coverage of the event as the meeting of hundreds of the nation's most powerful conservative activists is confidential.
The council is a "private membership group whose meetings are closed to the media," director Steve Baldwin informed me this morning.
But there is a bright side. Several readers have asked me why taxpayers should be footing the bill for Cheney to give what would be a political speech to a private group -- and the answer is, they aren't.
"Taxpayers do not cover political activity costs," Cheney's office said this morning.
Federal law restricts taxpayers from paying for any event held by a candidate for the Senate or House or political events unrelated to official business. So while you may see television images of Air Force Two on Friday, your tax dollars won't be paying for it to fly.
Of course, there are ancillary costs which Joe and Jane Taxpayer ARE paying. Those include Secret Service protection, the Air Force 2 crew and personal staff of the VEEP.
-- Thomas Burr
5:58 PM
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1 Comments:
The Book of Mormon tells us: "Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you.--Ether8:24"
But I'm sure there must be an exception for Republicans in there somewhere.
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