{"id":2446772,"date":"2019-07-25T12:11:02","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T18:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=310039"},"modified":"2019-07-25T12:11:02","modified_gmt":"2019-07-25T18:11:02","slug":"anonymous-pence-host-is-second-to-duck-security-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/anonymous-pence-host-is-second-to-duck-security-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Anonymous Pence host is second to duck security costs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Vice President Mike Pence arrives at the Aspen\/Pitkin County Airport on Monday, July 22, 2019. He came to Aspen for a fundraiser and was expected to depart on Tuesday.<\/strong>
Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Vice President Mike Pence is the second politician or candidate for office who\u2019s appeared in Aspen for a non-public event and not paid local law enforcement back for overtime security costs since the 1990s, Pitkin County\u2019s sheriff said. <\/p>\n

A previous version of this story quoting Pitkin Count Sheriff Joe DiSalvo as saying that Pence was the first to not reimburse the Sheriff\u2019s Office for overtime costs following a $35,000 a couple fundraiser Monday in Aspen was not correct. <\/p>\n

Hillary Clinton \u2013 who was a Democratic presidential candidate at the time \u2013 appeared in August 2015 at a private fundraiser and the host declined to repay the $5,000 in overtime costs because he thought it would be a campaign violation. <\/p>\n

Because he is a sitting vice president, Pence received a far higher level of service than candidate Clinton, which increased the overtime costs five-fold, DiSalvo said Wednesday. But unlike the situation with Clinton, when DiSalvo was able to ask the host directly to pay the overtime costs, he has not even been able to discover the name of the person who hosted Pence at the Caribou Club in downtown Aspen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t get anyone (involved in the fundraiser) to even talk to me about (reimbursement),\u201d DiSalvo said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

And while DiSalvo hasn\u2019t expressly been told he won\u2019t be reimbursed, it appears taxpayers from up and down the Roaring Fork Valley will likely cover the $24,562 bill for Pence\u2019s visit, which involved law enforcement personnel from Pitkin County, Aspen, Snowmass Village, Basalt, Carbondale and Garfield County, he said.<\/p>\n

That likely outcome didn\u2019t sit well with Pitkin County commissioners Wednesday at their regular, twice-monthly meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to eat this money regardless,\u201d said Commissioner Patti Clapper. \u201cWhen it\u2019s just (a private event), it should not be absorbed by taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner George Newman noted that Pitkin County\u2019s portion of the overtime costs will come out of the county\u2019s general fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo taxpayers are basically footing the bill for a private fundraiser,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

DiSalvo told commissioners he wasn\u2019t ready to give up on reimbursement yet.<\/p>\n

In normal situations when a politician or candidate comes to town for a private event, DiSalvo said he finds out who invited them and who is hosting them and charges that person or people for the overtime security costs. When he receives a check for those services, he distributes it to the agencies who helped with security, DiSalvo said.<\/p>\n

In this case, however, he said he has not been able to discover the name of the Caribou Club member who asked to host Pence at the private club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve not even known who to ask,\u201d he said. \u201cI asked and was stonewalled locally and from people from the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he spoke to one of Pence\u2019s top aides before the event and the man promised to look into the possibility of reimbursement. However, DiSalvo said he hasn\u2019t heard back from the man.<\/p>\n

Anna Zane, chairwoman of Pitkin County Republicans, said Wednesday she did not know who the host was. Bob Jenkins, vice chair of the organization, declined to comment Wednesday.<\/p>\n

A message left Wednesday and last week for the owners of the Caribou Club was not returned. Attempts to get comment from spokespeople with the Republican National Committee and the U.S. Secret Service were not successful Wednesday. <\/p>\n

DiSalvo said he heard 35 couples attended Monday\u2019s Caribou Club fundraiser. That would mean the event raised $1,225,000, which will go toward President Donald Trump\u2019s reelection campaign and to the Republican National Committee. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see that event as any benefit to the county,\u201d DiSalvo said. \u201cI would hope that somebody with some sense would say, \u2018We raised over a million dollars and we can kick some back to the locals.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Further, the security detail demanded by the Pence visit was large, including a Garfield County SWAT team, DiSalvo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cThe level of service (requested) was as high as a sitting president. And he deserves it. He\u2019s the vice president. This is the package they prepared for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiSalvo said he\u2019s not going to stop helping the Secret Service when dignitaries come to town, partially because they are fellow cops who need assistance. But also because if he doesn\u2019t help, he\u2019s been told they will utilize National Guard troops for security and DiSalvo said he doesn\u2019t want soldiers on the streets of Aspen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they ask us for help, I want to give it to them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

If no money for the security is forthcoming, each agency will pay its own overtime costs, DiSalvo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I owe it to the citizens of Pitkin County to get paid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

DiSalvo said the practice of charging for private political events began under former Sheriff Bob Braudis after two visits by then-President George H.W. Bush. Since then, hosts or private donors have paid the bill when politicians or candidates visit for private events, he said.<\/p>\n

DiSalvo confirmed Friday that the host for Clinton\u2019s Aspen Valley Ranch fundraiser in August 2016 paid between $8,000 and $10,000 for security overtime costs. The host for Trump\u2019s fundraiser in Aspen later that month also paid overtime costs, he said.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vice President Mike Pence arrives at the Aspen\/Pitkin County Airport on Monday, July 22, 2019. He came to Aspen for a fundraiser and was expected to depart on Tuesday.Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Vice President Mike Pence is the second politician or candidate for office who\u2019s appeared in Aspen for a non-public event and not paid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2446772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 23:45:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}