Obama does fundraising pass through Silicon Valley
“The incredible success we have had together” is not an excuse for complacency but a spur to action, the president told a crowd of 300 or so in the backyard of the Atherton home of Steve Westly, former state controller and a possible candidate for governor in 2018.
Obama’s first stop Thursday was at a private home in Palo Alto for what was described as a “high-dollar, low-turnout” event for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.
With fewer than two dozen people in the room at 10:40 a.m., the president spent 45 minutes sitting around a table and talking with the guests, who had paid $33,400 apiece to be there.
The event raised about $10,000 less than it might have after Atherton billed Westly for the cost of the security, parking patrols, street closures and the other support the small town was forced to provide for the president’s visit.
Since Atherton only has 19 police officers, outside help was needed for Thursday’s presidential event, with officers from Burlingame, Menlo Park, Redwood City, the California Highway Patrol and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department helping with security.
Residents near the event were forced to wait for Secret Service bomb dogs to sniff through their cars before they could make their way home, and gardeners and delivery trucks in the neighborhood received police escorts to make sure where they were going.
The president will spend the weekend relaxing in the Palm Springs area before hosting the two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Rancho Mirage on Monday.