BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN -
KAILUA, Hawaii
The now familiar signs that
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters
Sasha and
Malia and
First Dog Bo will be arriving in Hawaii for Christmas are appearing in the close knit beachside community on Oahu’s windward side.
Coast
Guard officials have contacted boat owners in the area to remind them
the canal and popular surf spot fronting the private beachfront homes
where the President will vacation beginning Friday are off limits for 17
days. The Coast Guard also has released information on the temporary
security zone that will be enforced from 6 a.m. on Friday to 10 p.m. on
Jan. 5, 2014.
Black SUVs and government issued vans are parked along the street fronting homes now occupied by the
U.S. Secret Service,
Navy SEALs and
Coast Guard.
By
the time the President arrives, concrete blockades and security will
bar direct entrance to Kailuana Place where the President stays. Coast
Guard on armed boats will patrol the canal and ocean. All airlines will
be barred from flying over the island.
The First Family has spent
every Christmas since the President was first elected in 2008 in Kailua,
a community built around stunning white sands and turquoise seas of
Kailua beach that boasts fiery sunrises over the Mokulua Islands.
The First Family is a two-minute drive from
Kaneohe Bay and the
Marine Corps Base Hawaii,
where they can access private beaches, a military gym and bowling
alley, and five minutes from a variety of restaurants, stores and water
sports rental shops in quaint Kailua town.
Obama is popular in
Hawaii, however, there are people critical of the cost to taxpayers and
the inconvenience the President's presence causes.
Sunrise over Kailua's Mokulua Islands
The
President and his friends pay for the private home accommodations that
rent for $25,000 per week, however taxpayers – both federal and county -
pick up the majority of the bill for the rest of the trip.
Michael Tasselmyer of the
National Taxpayers Union Foundation, estimates the 18-hour roundtrip aboard
Air Force One, which he said costs $179,750 per hour for flight and operation, will total
$3,235,500 for the roundtrip. A
Congressional Research Service report
released in May 2012 matches that figure.
There
are reports the President might also stop on the island of Maui, a
30-minute flight from Oahu, which would add additional expense.
The
cost for USAF C-17 cargo aircraft that transports the Presidential
limos, helicopters and other support equipment to Hawaii has never been
disclosed, but the roundtrip flight time between
Andrews Air Force Base and Hawaii is 21.5 hours, with estimated operating cost of $12,000 per hour. (Source: GAO report, updated by C-17 crew member).
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Group sues for Obama vacation records
AP file photo
LAWSUIT:
Judicial Watch Inc., a nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based organization
that focuses on transparency and accountability in government, filed the
lawsuit on May 6 to obtain financial records from U.S. Secret Service
related to the first family’s Hawaiian vacations.
By Malia Zimmerman | Hawaii Reporter
HONOLULU — Aloha, U.S. Secret Service? You’ve been served.
About those vacations to Hawaii, we want to know how much they’re costing taxpayers.
Judicial Watch Inc.,
a nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based organization that focuses on
transparency and accountability in government, filed the lawsuit May 6
to obtain from the U.S. Secret Service financial records related to the
first family’s Hawaiian vacations.
Hawaii Reporter and
Watchdog.org
has sought this information since 2008, when the Obamas and their
entourage began traveling annually to Hawaii during the Christmas and
New Year’s holidays.
The
family and their friends, we’ve learned, pay for the vacation rentals,
yet the cost to taxpayers for travel on Air Force One, accommodations
for staff and security and local police and ambulance detail exceed $4
million per trip.
The organization filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit —
Judicial Watch v. U.S. Secret Service — to
obtain records related to the use of taxpayer money to provide
“security and/or any other services to President Obama and any
companions on their January 1 and 2, 2013, trip to Honolulu, Hawaii.”
The suit was filed in the
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
BEACH VIEW: View of Kailua Beach, where the president stays.
The
lawsuit follows an attempt by the organization on Jan. 2 to obtain the
information through a Freedom of Information Act request.
According
to Judicial Watch, the U.S. Secret Service acknowledged the agency
received the request Jan. 31, and, by law, is required to determine
whether to comply with the FOIA request within 20 days and notify
Judicial Watch by Feb. 11.
As of May 6, the Secret Service produced no records and has failed to follow-up on the request.
Judicial Watch President
Tom Fitton
said, “President Obama is not king and his administration should stop
ignoring the FOIA open records law and account to the American people
the spending on his luxury vacations.”
Keith Koffler, a veteran White House reporter, wrote in a column Jan.
4 the “total cost to taxpayers of Obama’s vacations to Hawaii since
becoming president is likely in excess of $20 million, and possibly
much, much more.”
Read More Here
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CBS DC
By Michael Snyder, on November 20th, 2013
