By Andy Reid
Sun Sentinel
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Palm Beach County taxpayers ended up paying much of the bill for Donald Trump’s March 13 presidential campaign rally in West Boca.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office estimates that it cost about $21,000 more than Trump’s campaign paid in local event fees to provide security for the would-be Republican Partypresidential nominee.
The additional costs came from the Sheriff’s Office providing a beefed-up presence — in addition to the U.S. Secret Service and Trump’s private security — to watch over about 6,000 people estimated to have filled the Sunset Cove Amphitheater at Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park.
Trump’s West Boca visit came just two days after security concerns led to him canceling a campaign rally in Chicago, where fights broke out between protesters and his supporters.
Trump’s campaign paid nearly $6,000 to rent the county’s amphitheater. The campaign also paid about $3,600 to the Sheriff’s Office for 11 “extra-duty” law enforcement officers to help with everything from crowd control to directing traffic.
Those extra-duty deputies were in addition to the teams of regular duty officers deployed by the Sheriff’s Office as part of a “joint dignitary protection operation” with the U.S. Secret Service, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“We do rely heavily on our state and local law enforcement partners wherever we go,” Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said about presidential campaign events.
How many additional sheriff’s employees worked at the Trump event as part of that joint operation is not being disclosed for security reasons, according to Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera.
The $21,000 cost to the Sheriff’s Office for the Trump event was nearly three times as much as it cost for the agency to provide security at a Hillary Clinton campaign event held in West Palm Beach, two days after Trump’s West Boca rally. The Trump event drew about three times as many people as the Clinton event, according to crowd estimates.
Trump, a part-time Palm Beacher, has been able to turn his TV celebrity into campaign star power, attracting thousands of people to campaign events across the country.
Trump’s West Boca rally was held just two days before Florida’s presidential primary. He helicoptered into the park and then fired up the crowd by touting his lead in the polls and teasing the Republican Party competitors he dubbed “Little” Marco Rubio and “Lyin’” Ted Cruz.
“It was packed to the brim,” said Michael Barnett, chairman of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County, who attended the rally. “The energy was almost like being at a rock concert.”
Security at Trump campaign events was a growing concern in the days leading up to the Florida primary.
Trump’s controversial stances, including calling for building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and suggesting a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, attracted protesters to his campaign stops who at times clash with his supporters.
There were no arrests and no violent clashes between Trump backers and protesters who attended the March 13 campaign rally in West Boca, according to the Sheriff’s Office. At least two people were escorted out of the West Boca event, some potential protesters were blocked from entering and a Sun Sentinel columnist was told he faced going to jail if he continued to shoot video outside of a designated media area.
The Secret Service — which can provide security for presidential candidates who request it — wouldn’t disclose how much it costs for the agency to provide security at individual events, such as the Trump rally in West Boca on March 13.
Clinton held a local campaign event on March 15, celebrating her Florida presidential primary election victory with about 2,000 people gathered at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach.
The Clinton campaign paid $22,509.10 to rent the publicly subsidized convention center, according to contracts and invoices provided by the facility.
Secret Service handled security for the Clinton campaign rally, with help from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office estimates that cost $7,300.
That’s the cost for Sheriff’s Office employees who worked at the event as part of their regular duty, with taxpayers, not the Clinton campaign, picking up the tab.
Considering that the Trump campaign has made dozens of campaign stops across the country — and that Hillary Clinton and other presidential contenders also are attracting crowds of their own — it shows how communities in Florida and beyond may shoulder much of the cost of such political gatherings.
Political candidates have long used parks, stadiums, auditoriums and other publicly owned facilities for campaign events. That’s one of the costs from running a democracy, according to Ben Wilcox, research director for Integrity Florida, a nonpartisan, government watchdog group.
“We want robust elections. We want to encourage candidates to hold rallies and meet with people in person,” Wilcox said. “It seems to me to be a part of our democracy.”
Copyright 2016 the Sun Sentinel