Looks like the City of Mount Vernon ended up spending quite a bit of cash for a small town in this economic climate just to promote hate and stupidity. According to this article the city spent at least $18,000 on supplies and police overtime to host the event. Was it necessary?
I suppose the question is pretty easy to answer; no, it wasn't. Apparently the stated goals of the event were not met either. The mayor had hoped to raise $10,000 for a local theater as well, but fell short of that because he spent $5,700 to rent the hall and almost $3,000 on radio ads for an event that was well publicized across the country. He is now asking for donations to make up the shortfall caused by his own stupidity. I singled the mayor out in this because the city council hated the idea of having "Glenn Beck Day" so much that they passed a resolution stating that they had nothing to do with it and refused free tickets to the event.
The overall cost of the event hasn't yet been calculated because there are additional costs for police officers from outside the city that have not been factored in, as well as possible lost tourism revenue (the Tulip Festival is coming up!!) due to the negative view many took of the event. What did the extra expenditures on police officers net? 1 arrest for disorderly conduct out of approx. 1,000 demonstrators. But it's ok, because the city has now got a huge supply of flex-cuffs which they spent $100.25 on specifically for the event (not to mention the easel pads and post-it notes bought for their "command center").
For a guy who spends an hour a day, 5 days a week moaning, yelling and crying about government spending, allowing a small rural town to spend thousands of dollars on giving you your own day seems hypocritical. I would call on Glenn "I have my own day" Beck to pay the city and county back for any expenses incurred. This is money that the town could have spent on real improvements, but instead it went to kiss the ass of an evil, little man with some of the most skewed morals I've ever seen. Note that the linked article is devoid of any comment from the Beck camp. I wonder if that was because they weren't contacted, or if it's because he now wishes to distance himself from the real consequences of this foolish act of idolitry.