"At first, President Obama's West Coast visit this week appeared to be purely devoted to fundraising in Hollywood and San Francisco on behalf of other Democrats, and a recreational weekend golf retreat to a Palm Springs desert resort.
But a week ago, the White House sandwiched a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in San Francisco in between the fundraisers on Thursday and Friday nights, allowing Obama to label at least part of the trip as official business and have taxpayers foot a much greater share of the bill.It's a time-worn billing trick by modern-day presidents, who can rely on Air Force One and other military aircraft at their disposal for official business while federal election laws require party campaign committees to reimburse the White House and ultimately the U.S. Treasury for political travel — albeit at a fraction of the actual costs.
When the president travels strictly for fundraising purposes, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are forced to pay the equivalent of a commercial airline ticket for himself and each of his aides traveling with him."
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