Regional Leaders to Pres. Bush: Cover Your Inaugural Costs

WASHINGTON (AP) - Leaders from around the region voted unanimously Wednesday to send a letter to President Bush, asking him to pay for his own inauguration.

Local governments pitched in police, firefighters and sheriff's officers at a cost of about $12 million. Federal officials told them to use their homeland security funds to cover the bill. But local jurisdictions say they had other plans for that money, and point out the federal government usually pays for the inauguration.

At Wednesday's Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments meeting, officials from the District of Columbia and its suburbs approved a letter to the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget. It asks them to find other funds to cover inaugural security costs.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly asked to add a line to the letter saying that the principle behind the request is not just the financial impact on D.C., but the principle of regional cooperation.

"If you're going to have this level of cooperation, there is the expectation that you're going to be reimbursed," said Connolly, noting Fairfax sent 200 people at a cost of over $200,000.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)