Sarah Palin's PAC spent $63,000 on her own book

 

In November and December, Sarah Palin's political action committee spent more than $60,000 to provide copies of her book "Going Rogue" to supporters. ABC News reports:

The former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate had her political organization spend more than $63,000 on what her reports describe as "books for fundraising donor fulfillment." The payments went to Harper Collins, her publisher, and in some instances to HSP Direct, a Virginia-based direct mail fundraising firm that serves a number of well-known conservative politicians and pundits.

The book, which is currently in hardcover, has a suggested retail price of $28.99 -- if that was the price paid by the PAC, more than 2,000 may have been sold. If the PAC paid wholesale, or the low $9.99 price-war price offered by Amazon and Wal-Mart, then far more books were purchased and distributed to Palin supporters by ... Palin supporters. 

Because Palin does not currently hold office, it seems that the book-buying and distributing expense is  legal. According to ABC:

Palin would not be the first politician to use a PAC to underwrite the purchase of a memoir. The Federal Election Commission has heard a number of cases on the question of whether it is an appropriate expense. The rules are somewhat complex, but because Palin is neither a candidate for office, nor a sitting member of Congress, her PAC is free to purchase the book under current law, according to Jan Baran, a campaign legal expert.

Palin's "Going Rogue," which held onto the top spot on Amazon's bestseller list for some time, has dropped to No. 60. Palin is expected to appear as a contributor on Fox News this year.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Sarah Palin. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[swf]

You mean last year Sarah? When the Republicans gladly jumped into the back of Scott Brown's pick-up, Ms. Palin was left holding her unsold books and breathing in Brown's exhaust.

[ALEX]

If journalists pounded their territories, and sources, they'd discover numerous orchestrated "high-volume purchases" by Reactionary-Right
organizations, groups, corporate-related Sugar-Daddies, et al.
But, of course, MSM are always frightened of "angry backlash", eh?

[Madison Av]

Rupert Murdoch owns Harper Collins.
Ruper Murdoch owns Fox News.
Let's see now. . .does Rupert Murdoch own Sarah Palin?

[Paul Wertz]

She said she plans to read every one of them.

[David]

So what?

[Lee Paxton]

Palin's an idiot and doesn't deserve coverage in this paper or any other, period.

[Mr Salty]

Last week I saw her book in the bargain bin at Marshall's.........

[Mike]

Is this supposed to surprise anyone?

[Uh huh]

LOL...did they buy a 747 full of crayons too?

[noway]

Funny how the use of military jets for family members of Pelosi, isn't mentioned on here. Oh I forgot, she has a D next to her name.
Could LA Times be anymore one sided with political reports! That's not good journalism, sorry.

[Tom]

Why would this be considered unethical? Wouldn't donors to her campaign want her handing out information about herself? Is this a question about profit for herself? $63,000 is a pretty small price compared to the millions from the book as a whole. Why is this article trying to present this subject in a slanderous way? Why so anti-Palin? The haters are at it again. Grasping at straws.

[Doug]

The popularity of this woman is a reflection of how pathetic we've become as a nation. Minimal education and minimal experience are all that is required so long as you look good. In America, 5 is the new 10...

[carl 03]

with brown, we have a new player on board...

[Andy]

As the article states; since she is not holding office, it is legal.
Then, according to ABC: "Palin would not be the first politcian...."

What exactly, then, is the point of this piece?

[inplants]

Why is it only OK for the "teabaggers" to trash Liberals, but not OK for Libs to bash the Right? And, please! Do not continue to voice the ever so tired mantra of the "liberal bias" of the "mainstream media."

The real double standard exists on the Right side. If we were discussing children I would think that this childlike whining would be a bratty behavior that would be grown out of. But coming from adults, the constant carping sounds shallow, puerile, and disingenous.

Hey, you guys have had your chances. Many of them, from Reagan through Bush II. Obviously it is easier for some people to snipe and criticize; what I never see in these Conservative rants is any constructive policy initiative other that some half-baked, robotlike recitation of barely remembered high school civics.

Besides, Palin is news. She WANTS to be news. So people report on her. Both good and bad. Why would anyone actually ask why there is media coverage for her? It is obvious. She is yet another polarizing talking-head for the Religious Right whose self-serving malapropisms are designed to draw criticism and commentary.

[Michael D]

You mean they actually read books?

[Barbara L]

Of course its legal! As legal as it was when blocks of the Clintons books, and other celeb & politico books are bought as bennies to donors or mag subscribers or goodie bag give-offs. Done all the time way before Palin - will be done after.

[Bud]

This woman is dumb and a loser. Period.

[Mark]

By definition, shouldn't these actions be considered "embezzlement"? What she is doing is just that.

[RJ Money]

Nancy Pelosi spent $1,000,000 of OUR money on food and booze for her luxury jet last year.
Why are people complaining about Sarah Palin?
We need to throw EVERYONE out next chance we get and bring in someone new.
Ronald Reagan said the best view of BIG GOVERNMENT is from the rear view mirror, driving away from it.

[Francisco]

I bet McCain loves the council which advised him about bringing her on-board. Talk about a bad political gamble. But it was "maverick-like" to make such decision.

[David]

Now that Scott Brown is the RNC poster boy, can we please let Palin slip away into the so-last-year category? Pleeeeze. Besides that, she scares me. She reminds me of Martin Sheen's character in "The Dead Zone". Rent it, people.

[don]

I'm not a big Sarah Palin fan, by any means, but this seems like much ado about nothing.

If the Palin PAC were sending hats or ballpoint pens saying "Palin for President" ("I Like Ike"?) as a reward to her supporters, there wouldn't/shouldn't be any objections, so why would/should there be any objection to this? This is not only legal, it's ethical as well.

[Art Greenwalt]

I don't know if any of the previous posters are from Alaska, so I am going to possibly be the first such in this thread. I've lived in Fairbanks for over 40 years and suffered through Palin's mercifully incomplete term.
If you carefully look at her list of gubernatorial accomplishments it is very fast reading. She claims great strides in the arena of a gas pipeline but the truth is Ms.-America-First made a deal between the State of Alaska and Trans-Canada (obviously not an American company) to put a gas line from Prudhoe Bay through Canada and down to the Lower '48. In addition, the State will forgive the first $500 million in royalty taxes when it is built. At the same time she made this deal, an all-Alaskan pipeline route to be built with American money and American hire was disapproved by her office, i.e., Sarah Palin. It has been almost 2 years since the Trans-Canada approval and we have yet to see a single nut or bolt purchased towards this gas line. With discoveries in the Lower '48 and elsewhere, and a minimum of 10 years from contract signing to actual construction, the chances we will ever see such a gas line are slim to none. This is the fullest expression of her "expertise" on the matter.
In a smaller though more telling vein, it is worth noting when she was mayor of Wasilla she tried to have several books in the local library removed. When the librarian refused to do so, Mayor Palin tried to have her fired but was thwarted when the librarian took the matter to court.
Perhaps most telling of all as a portrait of Sarah Palin's true character is the following. At a time when we have no state income tax, when each citizen receives an annual check for oil royalties that is often over $1000, and we had (at the time) over $30 billion dollars in the bank, Sarah Palin tried to make it mandatory that rape victims pay the $82 cost of rape evidence kits.
The worst thing Sen. McCain has ever done (and someday he may realize this) is to let Sarah Palin loose on America. She's Joe McCarthy and Aimee Semple McPherson all in one bundle with the personal integrity of a Mafia mobster and a level of greed to match.

[Canyoubelieveit]

Wow I thought that the McCain/Palin ticket lost over a year ago. She must have somebody really scared for all the venom that is out there.

[Gaby C]

Doug wrote: The popularity of this woman is a reflection of how pathetic we've become as a nation. Minimal education and minimal experience are all that is required so long as you look good. In America, 5 is the new 10...

You took the words out of my mouth, only I was thinking about the President.

[ex-singer]

Hey, noway -- The Bush White House fully supported Pelosi's use of the larger jet for security reasons. Look it up on snopes.com. She's third in line to the presidency and is fully entitled to be able to fly from DC to her district in SF without having to stop for refueling.

As for other assertions that she has spent $X million on booze, etc. Even Judicial Watch only found evidence of $101,000, not a million, spent on "in-flight expenses, which included food and alcohol."

Wingnuts need to start reading real journalism and not opinionism as promoted by Fox News, or conspiracy theory stuff a la World Net Daily.

[Jason]

It makes me ill to still see this woman still being advertised in the media, if you want to read about a woman that embodies the true spirit of america, read about Suzanna Hupp and her book, from Luby's to the Legislature.

[Susan Hamant]

I would wish not to hear the name Sarah Palin again. Please give us someone with talent and not like the puppets that inhabit "our" Congress.

[Mr. Z]

What a FAKE & PHONY person...FOX FAKE NEWS is perfect for this FAKE CHRISTIAN HYPOCRITE!!

[don keyhote]

.... i agree with "doug"...we have become pathetic....stupidity & ignorance is rewarded....what are "we" leaving for future generations????

[aks]

move on to news that's important...