Despite President Obama’s outspoken criticism of the influence of anonymous, deep-pocketed donors in the political process, an anonymous donor is footing the bill for the president’s upcoming visit to Durham, New Hampshire.
The AP reports, via Politico:
An anonymous donor has agreed to pay up to $20,000 to cover expenses the town incurs as a result of a visit by President Barack Obama, Town Council Chairman Jay Gooze said Sunday.
The town asked that local expenses for Monday's Obama campaign stop be covered by the president's re-election campaign. Durham officials had said that the visit is expected to cost the town an extra $20,000 to $30,000 in overtime payments. Obama is scheduled to speak Monday at Durham's Oyster River High School.
The Obama campaign had responded to the request by saying that all decisions on security expenses "are exclusively within the control of the appropriate government officials" and that if there were further questions about allocation of the expenses they should be directed to the Secret Service.
The conservative group Americans for Prosperity announced it will be filing a records request to try to determine the identity of the donor as it could be considered an "in-kind" campaign contribution, Buzzfeed reports.
"The people of Durham have a right to know the identity of this anonymous donor and what his or her intentions are in giving this significant sum of money," Corey R. Lewandowski, the state director of Americans for Prosperity-New Hampshire, said in a statement. "The donor may have business pending before the town or may be trying to skirt FEC law, which precludes this sort of donation."