Your Opinion: Presidential travel rules same for both parties

Dear Editor:

I would like to respond to the letter from Doug Willig on March 24. He said that taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for President Obama's fundraising travels.

CNN reported in 2011 that of President Bush's fundraiser trips that he made during his terms, taxpayers paid 97 percent of the costs, the RNC paid 3 percent. Apparently both parties have followed the same rules set out by the Reagan Administration in 1982.

They are required to travel in a secure aircraft with all the Secret Service protection. If the trip is part business and part fundraising the cost of meals and lodging is charged accordingly.

So if Willig has a problem with Obama using tax dollars to travel to fundraisers perhaps he needs to acknowledge it is not a violation of any rules and taxpayers did the same for H.W. Bush.

Rather than bash Obama, Willig needs to, instead, urge his representatives to change this rule. However, I suspect that Willig's true intention was to bash Obama, not to really inform voters of the bigger issue.