Reply #2: Jan 18, 2005: "Tab for Bush second inauguration bash hits record $40 million" [View All]

Tab for Bush bash hits record $40 million
Corporate donors step in to foot some of the bills



Jim Bryant, of Hargrove Inc., puts the finishing touches on a 32-foot long float of a scroll with the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. The company has created floats for inaugurations dating back to Harry Truman's in 1949.

By Diana Olick and Rob Reynolds
CNBC
Updated: 2:00 p.m. PT Jan 18, 2005

President Bush and wealthy donors are sparing no expense for his second inauguration. Besides the ceremony itself, there will a parade with 11,000 people, floats, vehicles and horses. There will be nine fancy dress balls and assorted receptions, rock concerts and candle-light dinners.

The inaugural committee plans to spend $40 million -- the most ever. President Clinton's 1993 festivities cost $33 million. So who’s picking up the tab for the Bush bash?

"There are a wide variety of companies that are giving; some people were former supporters,” said Larry Noble, executive director at the Center for Responsive Politics. “We’re seeing some Pioneers and Rangers -- the big fundraisers for Bush. Among the companies we are seeing are Texas companies and energy companies."

"The wealthy here are buying access through giving large contributions,” said Noble. “And it looks a lot like what we have seen before -- with the political conventions and other things. It looks like a government for sale." Some commentators, even conservatives who supported President Bush's re-election, question the appropriateness of a lavish inaugural in wartime. "This president -- who was the choice of 80 percent of ‘morality’ voters, is undermining his moral standing by making a giant party for rich people while our soldiers continue to battle and die in Iraq," said talk radio host Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6839280/