Where are all the Anti-Inauguration activists now?


By Michelle Malkin • November 28, 2008 05:01 AM

President Obama’s Chicago machine is kicking into high gear to plan and fund his massive, unprecedented inaugural festivities. He just appointed an inauguration planning committee that includes his hometown cronies William Daley and Penny Pritzker. They’ve got a campaign-style website counting down the days to the massive party in Washington. To deflect attention from the costs, the One’s party planners are patting themselves on the back for limiting inaugural donations to individual contributions of $50,000 — a move they say is historic. But Bill Clinton also refused corporate money for his second inaugural and capped donations at $100. (Bush raised $42 million for his second inaugural, mostly from corporate donors, capped at $250,000.) The DC Examiner recently reported that the Inaugural Celebrations of Hope and Change will strain the district’s beleaguered pocketbook:

Soaring costs expected to accompany huge crowds in town for the Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama could stick cash-strapped Washington, D.C., with a record-breaking bill for services. Security and capacity measures recommended by the District’s congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and others will almost certainly surpass the $15 million the federal government gives to the District each year to defray the cost of events, Norton said.

In 2005, with an estimated 300,000 in attendance, the second inauguration of President Bush cost the city more than $17 million, some of which was reimbursed with federal funds. This year, officials estimate nearly five times that many people for the swearing in of President-elect Barack Obama.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier expects to use an additional 4,000 police officers from all over the country in addition to her 4,000-member force, she said earlier this month. The city’s inaugural budget allows for only 3,000 extra uniformed officers. “There will be an additional amount necessary to handle the unprecedented crowds, and I am now working with my colleagues to deal with that amount,â€