Jim Bunning: “I wish to respond to my friend from Minnesota. First of all, it was only $25 million put in the New York security bill…”

“I wish to respond to my friend from Minnesota. First of all, it was only $25 million put in the New York security bill for the 2004 convention in New York, which I attended. My concern and my wonder is: Why did Minneapolis-St. Paul in Minnesota, bid at all for the convention, or Denver, CO? Why did they bid? Did they bid to lose money? Did they bid to attract people into their States so they could make money on the conventions? I was on the Republican National Committee for 8 years and was involved in three national conventions. We went to Detroit, Dallas, and New Orleans. All of those cities were pre-9/11, but all of those cities were responsible for the security. Now, after 9/11, the people who are bidding--and there were more than just those two cities bidding. In fact, there were five that were narrowed down to three, and, finally, Minneapolis-St. Paul was chosen by the Republicans. The same thing occurred on the Democratic side, where there were five, and then down to three, and then down to one in Denver, CO. Now, they knew there was going to be a cost for security after 9/11. They had to build that security cost into their bid for the convention. If they did not do that, they were poor planners.”