What is a Republican incumbent to do when they sense trouble? As Nancy Boyda gains ground in the second district, Jim Ryun turned to Washington for assistance with a fundraiser attended by none other then the Vice President Dick Cheney.

According to the Lawrence Journal World, Ryun,s campaign fundraiser included $1,000 a piece tickets to take a photograph with the VP (10/12/06). The total amount raised from the fundraiser equaled around $209,000 according to the latest Federal Elections Committee financial reports.

Bringing in the Vice President made Ryun a little extra spending cash, but at what expense? Everyone knows that there is no such thing as free money…

USA Today reported that the Air Force estimates that operating the executive aircraft costs around $57,000 per hour. That means an eight hour flight from Washington to Kansas would cost over a half million dollars, almost all of which is footed by the taxpayers.

That means that the money raised by Ryun is essentially right out of the taxpayer pockets.

Rep. Waxman, the ranking member on the Committee for Government Reform, released a report that shows taxpayers pay over 95% of the cost of flights by the President and Vice President for campaign-related events. The report projects that taxpayers will spend over $7 million in 2006 on presidential and vice presidential political flights.

The question then becomes - Are your tax dollars worth going to support Jim Ryun?