Glenn Beck Is An Expensive Guest Of Honor

by Robert Quigley | 2:27 pm, October 23rd, 2009

» 5 comments

glenn beck mt vernon

Glenn Beck is no big fan of government spending, but he put his hometown of Mount Vernon, Washington more than $17,000 in the hole when he came back to town for a celebration in his honor last month. Where did most of that money wind up?

The town was flooded with between 800 and 1000 demonstrators for and against Beck, and security precautions filled up most of the bill. The town’s police chief called it

“the biggest protest he’s seen in his 32 years as a Mount Vernon police officer.”

The Seattle Times‘ Erik Lacitis reports:

[Mount Vernon] mostly for 239 hours of police overtime…

The hours started to add up, with “preplanning” overtime ringing up $4,425.84.

Eventually, 38 law-enforcement people were involved, including officers from neighboring towns, as well as the State Patrol and Skagit County Sheriff’s Office. As part of an agreement in which jurisdictions in the area share police help, officers from other jurisdictions were not paid by Mount Vernon, but from their own agencies’ budgets. Those sums have not been added up.

It’s unclear where the money is going to come from: last month, the Mount Vernon City Council unanimously voted not to sponsor the event. Bumper stickers and Ramahanukwanzmas holiday cards, maybe?

(h/t Romenesko; photo via Tikkun)

Erik Lacitis, Glenn Beck, Glenn Beck Mount Vernon, Glenn Beck Mt Vernon, Glenn Beck Protests, Mount Vernon, Mt Vernon, Ramahanukwanzmas, Seattle Times

sarainitaly

“he put his hometown of Mount Vernon, Washington more than $17,000 in the hole when he came back to town for a celebration in his honor last month. ”

So – Beck attends an event that the town created, for him, honoring him, and people showed up to protest, and *HE* put his hometown in the hole?
ImNotBlue

When you’re compelled to find the negative, sometimes it makes you say really goofy things.

This “article” is a really good example of that.
Nachi

The little Blog Monitors are busy again. Grasp a “life” – even if you must steal someone else’s!
Sunnyr

What a lot of trash talk. Glenn Beck was invited and showed up. How does that make HIM responsible because a few Left Wing SLUGS decided to show up and raise a ruckus? Pffft!
CaptainAmerica

Typical of Mediaite these days. Lets try and trash FOX NEWS and its personalities.

I love how the left wing lunatics aren’t to blame for this, but its Becks fault.

Also, why don’t you write up a story every time Obama goes someplace. How much does that cost people? The cost of 2 Cargo Jets or more and Air Force One. The cost of over 100 Secret Service Agents and all the local police department men/women. What’s the price tag on one Obama overnight trip? $5-$10 million? When you factor in everything?