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August 01, 2011
Classless and Cheapo Joe Biden Charging HIS Secret Service For Cottage Rental
Biden charging Secret Service for cottage rental
The U.S. Secret Service does more than protect Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. — the agency also pays him rent.
Since April, Mr. Biden has collected more than $13,000 from the agency charged with protecting him and his family for use of a rental cottage adjacent to the waterfront home he owns in a Wilmington, Del., suburb.
Mr. Biden, listed not as vice president in federal purchasing documents but as a “vendor,” is eligible for up to $66,000 by the time the government contract expires in the fall of 2013, the records show.
Officials say the arrangement came about when a previous tenant moved out of the cottage and the Secret Service moved in.
Edwin M. Donovan, special agent in charge at the Secret Service's Office of Government and Public Affairs in Washington, said the agency pays $2,200 in rent per-month, the same amount a previous tenant had paid before moving out.
He said the close location provides a level of security for the Biden family the agency might not have had otherwise. Asked if the Secret Service typically pays rent to the people it protects, he said, “It’s a rental property so we pay rent there.”
Taxpayer watchdogs say the Secret Service should do everything it can to protect Mr. Biden, but they wonder whether he should be collecting rent from the agency while it’s doing its job.
“He should be afforded every single protection available to him and his family, as should every vice president and president,” said Leslie Paige, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste.
“But this arrangement seems bizarre to me,” she added. “You’d think the vice president, who shepherded the deficit committee, would think twice about charging the Secret Service rent. Why would he need the money? I don’t get it.”
According to Mr. Biden’s office, the vice president’s mother lived in the cottage until she died in January 2010. At that time, the Secret Service had been renting properties in the Wilmington area for agents who were providing a protective presence at Mr. Biden’s personal residence.
Mr. Biden later asked the Secret Service if the agency wanted to rent the cottage property, but the Secret Service declined and Mr. Biden rented it instead to a private tenant, according to the vice president's office. But almost a year later, when that tenant moved out, the Secret Service approached Mr. Biden about renting the cottage.
“The cottage was an existing rental property at the time the Secret Service signed its lease,” said Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for Mr. Biden.
Last year, Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill, reported earning $379,178, including $11,000 in income from the cottage, according to the Bidens’ tax return. The Bidens did not list any rental income for 2009.
The Secret Service was the contracting agency on the two purchase orders so far that have paid Mr. Biden $13,200 combined for use of his cottage.
The first purchase order to Mr. Biden, for $2,200, was signed April 1, and the second, for $11,000, was signed June 2. The records both list Mr. Biden by name as the vendor under a section of the purchase order called “contractor information.” The purchase order describes Mr. Biden as a sole proprietor with no employees and no annual revenue.
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Wild Thing's comment......
This is what DEMOCRATS do, I think it stinks to high heaven. Bill Clinton did the same thing. There was a question at the end of his presidency about how he was going to pay for his house in Chappaqua, NY with its $10,000 mortgage payment due each month. Clinton, you remember, never owned a home and had always lived off the taxpayer during his years of service in Arkansas. Enter Terry McAuliffe who financed the house for Clinton. Clinton then turned around and charged the Secret Service $10,000 a month rent for the use of a small gatehouse at the entrance to his property.
If I was the VP or a President and I have a gust house or cottage near our home I would want the SS to live close by and NO way would they be charged. I would be glad I had a place close by that would be perfect for them to be comfortable. Heck I would have special events at my property like family picnics etc. they could bring their families to be with them at times their duties kept them away too long.
But Democrats, they would have charged Mother Teresa the occasional crust of bread!! The turn around and say she had no bread because the Republicans would not give her any.
Posted by Wild Thing at August 1, 2011 03:55 AM
Comments
Talk to any normal person working in a fiduciary capacity like an executor of a will or the custodian of the trust of someone too young or too old to manage themselves, bank examiners or perpetual land trust institutions, or a local public water utility of how very careful they are to be frugal, responsible and fully accountable with somebody else's money and the trust given unto them.
Or the head of trade association with dues paying members or the trustees of a pension trust or a charitable organization or a church rectory or a social group or a community association just how much more careful they are with the valuable common funds entrusted onto them than they are with their own money.
Most sacred of all (whether federal, state or local) public sector workers and public office holders entrusted with the the public till and the public trust of tax paying citizens, just how transparent, careful and accountable they must be for the sake and solvency of their city, county, state and country.
Why is it that with far too many Democrats, it's exactly the opposite when they control other people's money and they betray the public trust ?
They just spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend. spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend ...
Posted by: Carlos at August 1, 2011 05:26 AM
To charge the very people who protect your life with theirs is disgusting.
Posted by: BobF at August 1, 2011 07:40 AM
If you work with them you soon find that they also don't want to do their phony Government jobs. They won't do anything for people who have not paid them under the table in the form of political contributions or being a supporting member of one of the organizations that lobby for increased Government employment.
We should have a deminishing pention. Their pensions should fade the longer they stay in office. After forty years they should be charged for being in office.
Posted by: Avitar at August 1, 2011 02:30 PM
You all are great, thank you for your awesome input.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 2, 2011 04:21 AM
