Who wants to contribute to a billionaire's campaign?

After reading an article in The Washington Post on Dec. 7 about how other jurisdictions handle costs incurred from the Trump Circus, masquerading as a presidential campaign, I did some checking as to the cost of the circus stop in our fair city, and what I discovered was mind-boggling. The overtime paid by the Bibb County Sheriff's Office alone came to a whopping $15,452.81, and that's not counting the cost of fuel and other associated costs, such as wear and tear of vehicles and other equipment.

According to my information, which was obtained from the sheriff's office, none of these costs were passed on to the Trump Circus — oops, Trump campaign — and there is no intention of doing so. The question begs to be answered, why not? Another question that deserves an answer is why was such a large contingent of police officers needed in the first place? After all, the security and protection of a presidential candidate is the sole responsibility of the U.S. Secret Service once that candidate has qualified for Secret Service protection. The only role of local law enforcement is traffic control. Even crowd control is the responsibility of the campaign, either by contracting with private security firms or by hiring off-duty police officers. Neither was the case for the Trump visit. I was managing the Jesse Jackson campaign for the state of Georgia when he was given Secret Service protection, and we never expected local law enforcement to protect him or his traveling party. The aforementioned article in The Washington Post was thoroughly reported by two very experienced reporters, and they could find no jurisdiction that didn't pass on all incurred costs as a result of the Trump crowd coming to their towns. Not so in generous Macon/Bibb County, Georgia. One of the poorest cities in the country took on all of those costs.

What, if any, information did the sheriff's office, or the district attorney's office have that led them to, in my opinion, overreact as they did in their utterances and action? The district attorney, David Cooke, went so far as to call a news conference, warning demonstrators they would be severely dealt with if they got out of line (paraphrasing his words).

The only demonstration against Trump and his bigoted political views, as reported in the local and state media, was organized by me and others to be a very peaceful protest, well within our constitutional rights. The only force we had was moral force and love for our fellow citizens. But we were very vocal in our opposition to religious, ethnic and racial bigotry. They, the demonstrators who came from near and far were well-versed, vocal, passionate and peaceful. They didn't represent a threat to anyone or anything. So why such large show of force? Was it to intimidate and or discourage peaceful protest or political grandstanding? I let those who made the decisions to answer that question. No matter the reason, such a large show was uncalled for and clearly a waste of valuable taxpayers' resources.

This money came from the same sheriff's budget that couldn't find a mere $8,000 to sponsor a summer basketball camp to have been conducted by former Southwest High School star, former Los Angeles Laker's standout and NBA champion Norm Nixon, who agreed to conduct the camp as a crime-prevention tool and to offer positive role models and a strong stay-in-school message from other NBA and former college players.

Yet we can find more than $15,000 for a billionaire's campaign.

My point here is that here is that the taxpayers of Macon-Bibb County should not be expected to to give more than $15,000 to any political campaign, no matter who the candidate is, but especially not to a billionaire who has pledged to fund campaign on his own.

I call upon the sheriff, the mayor and the commissioners to ensure that any and all cost incurred during the Trump campaign visit — police services and all other cost from the Centreplex and others — be collected from the Trump campaign and given to youth recreation or to the Midnight Basketball Program led by Commissioner Virgil Watkins or some other crime prevention entity.

So who wants to donate to a multi-billionaire's campaign?

Not me, and neither do so many other taxpayers that I have spoken to. I know its the Christmas season and a time for giving, but not from the taxpayers of Macon-Bibb County.

C. Jack Ellis is a former mayor of Macon.

This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 10:03 PM with the headline "Who wants to contribute to a billionaire's campaign? ."