WHAT A HEEL: Biden Says NYC Jacked Up KSM Trial Cost Estimates
On CBS' "Face the Nation" Vice President Joe Biden accused NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg of padding the cost of holding the September 11 terror trials of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators in a Manhattan federal court:
The mayor came along and said the cost providing security to hold this trial is “x” hundreds of millions of dollars, which, well, I think is much more than would be needed.
As the Obama administration has a poor track record in making realistic cost estimates on major policy initiatives and has consequently engaged in voodoo economics to conceal egregious economic miscalculations, Biden is in no position to criticize how others do budget math. In any case, an unnamed city official tells the New York Daily News that the administration “never questioned the city's security estimate of more than $200 million per year” – at least, not until this past Sunday.
For his part, Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Queens) wasted no time calling bullsh*t on Biden's grasp of the security issues that NYC faces: "Our police commissioner is perhaps one of the world's foremost experts on public safety, and Joe Biden treads on dangerous waters when he believes he knows more about the safety of New York City." The more temperate Bloomberg waited until yesterday to weigh in, calling the city’s estimate “reasonable” and explaining that it is “based on many years of experience and knowing what the costs are in a big city of deploying the greatest police department in the world."
Editorial Note: Post updated to include two additional links.
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