Should use of government aircraft for personal or Party political fundraising trips require full re-imbursement to taxpayers? While Barack Obama isn’t the first, he is the most flagrant abuser of taxpayer financed military equipment.

At his disposal is Marine One, a helicopter to ferry him to and from the White House and Washington airports. In addition, there are two giant Boeing 747’s designated Air Force One, five Boeing 757 wide-body passenger and cargo jets and a number of Gulf Stream executive planes. The larger carry Secret Service, limousines, sympathetic press and media plus electronic and teleprompter equipment to fund raising destinations. The Air Force has also reassigned additional large cargo planes from military operations to compliment the president’s almost daily fund-raising sojourns. Ignored is the $181,757 cost of operating large Air Forces planes each in- flight hour.

Is it right for hard-pressed taxpayers suffering record unemployment and home foreclosures, oppressive energy and gasoline costs, increasing inflation, out of control budgets and trillion dollar deficits to pay for private and Party political fundraising trips ?

Wouldn’t it be in this Nation’s best interest, if instead of attempting to establish a billion dollar fundraising record collecting money from wealthy friends, lobbyists and the privileged, President Obama would put as much effort into solving a failed economy causing so much misery and hardship.

If the Republican Party is too stupid or asleep to demand full re-imbursement of personal fundraising travel costs to taxpayers, hopefully people will.