RNC pays $150K for Palin's clothes

[LA_Spartan]

And it doesn't look like the money was spent at the Wasilla Dress Barn.

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

RNC appears to shell out $150K for Palin fashion - Jeanne Cummings - Politico.com

Wonder how Knollenberg and Walberg feel about money spent for Palin's wardrobe instead of their campaigns?

[SpartanStu]

Originally Posted by LA_Spartan

And it doesn't look like the money was spent at the Wasilla Dress Barn.



RNC appears to shell out $150K for Palin fashion - Jeanne Cummings - Politico.com

Wonder how Knollenberg and Walberg feel about money spent for Palin's wardrobe instead of their campaigns?

I wonder of those sales people who helped the Guv were on commission...

Fat payday if so...

[Spartan Al]

Wasn't a major shopping spree how Julia Roberts was transformed from a no-name, classless streetwalker into a high class whore in Pretty Woman?

[GRR Spartan]

For a "fiscal conservative, lLooks like the gov loves the perks
From the GR Press, AP Investigation

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.
The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor's children. The law allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business.
As governor, Palin justified having the state pay for the travel of her daughters -- Bristol, 17; Willow, 14; and Piper, 7 -- by noting on travel forms that the girls had been invited to attend or participate in events on the governor's schedule.

But some organizers of these events said they were surprised when the Palin children showed up uninvited, or said they agreed to a request by the governor to allow the children to attend.

Several other organizers said the children merely accompanied their mother and did not participate. The trips enabled Palin, whose main state office is in the capital of Juneau, to spend more time with her children.

"She said any event she can take her kids to is an event she tries to attend," said Jennifer McCarthy, who helped organize the June 2007 Family Day Celebration picnic in Ketchikan that Piper attended with her parents.

State Finance Director Kim Garnero told The Associated Press she has not reviewed the Palins' travel expense forms, so she could not say whether the daughters' travel with their mother would meet the definition of official business.

After Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin his running mate and reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters' travel.

In the amended reports, Palin added phrases such as "First Family attending" and "First Family invited" to explain the girls' attendance.

"The governor said, 'I want the purpose and the reason for this travel to be clear,'" said Linda Perez, state director of administrative services.

When Palin released her family's tax records as part of her vice presidential campaign, some tax experts questioned why she did not report the children's state travel reimbursements as income.

The Palins released a review by a Washington attorney who said state law allows the children's travel expenses to be reimbursed and not taxed when they conduct official state business.

Taylor Griffin, a McCain-Palin campaign spokesman, said Palin followed state policy allowing governors to charge for their children's travel. He said the governor's office has invitations requesting the family to attend some events, but he said he did not have them to provide.

In October 2007, Palin brought daughter Bristol along on a trip to New York for a women's leadership conference. Plane tickets from Anchorage to La Guardia Airport for $1,385.11 were billed to the state, records show, and mother and daughter shared a room for four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House hotel, which overlooks Central Park.

The event's organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter.
Alexis Gelber, who organized Newsweek's Third Annual Women & Leadership Conference, said she does not know how Bristol ended up attending. Gelber said invitees usually attend alone, but some ask if they can bring a relative or friend.
Griffin, the campaign spokesman, said he believes someone with the event personally sent an e-mail to Bristol inviting her, but he did not have it to provide. Records show Palin also met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs representatives and visited the New York Stock Exchange.

In January, the governor, Willow and Piper showed up at the Alaska Symphony of Seafood Buffet, an Anchorage gala to announce winners of an earlier seafood competition.

"She was just there," said James Browning, executive director of Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which runs the event. Griffin said the governor's office received an invitation that was not specifically addressed to anyone.
When Palin amended her children's expense reports, she listed a role for the two girls at the function -- "to draw two separate raffle tickets."

In the original travel form, Palin listed a number of events that her children attended and said they were there "in official capacity helping." She did not identify any specific roles for the girls.

In July, the governor charged the state $2,741.26 to take Bristol and Piper to Philadelphia for a meeting of the National Governors Association. The girls had their own room for five nights at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for $215.46 a night, expense records show.

Expense forms describe the girls' official purpose as "NGA Governor's Youth Programs and family activities." But those programs were activities designed to keep children busy, a service provided by the NGA to accommodate governors and their families, NGA spokeswoman Jodi Omear said.

In addition to the commercial flights, the children have traveled dozens of times with Palin on a state plane. For these flights, the total cost of operating the plane, at $971 an hour, was about $55,000, according to state flight logs. The cost of operating the state plane does not increase when the children join their mother.

The organizer of an American Heart Association luncheon on Feb. 15 in Fairbanks said Palin asked to bring daughter Piper to the event, and the organizer said she was surprised when Palin showed up with daughter Willow and Bristol as well.
The three Palin daughters shared a room separate from their mother at the Princess Lodge in Fairbanks for two nights, at a cost to the state of $129 per night.
The luncheon took place before Palin's husband, Todd, finished fourth in the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race, also in Fairbanks. The family greeted him at the finish line.
When Palin showed up at the luncheon with not just Piper but also Willow and Bristol, organizers had to scramble to make room at the main table, said Janet Bartels, who set up the event.

"When it's the governor, you just make it happen," she said.
The state is already reviewing nearly $17,000 in per diem payments to Palin for more than 300 nights she slept at her own home, 40 miles from her satellite office in Anchorage.

Tony Knowles, a Democratic former governor of Alaska who lost to Palin in a 2006 bid to reclaim the job, said he never charged the state for his three children's commercial flights or claimed their travel as official state business.
Knowles, who was governor from 1994 to 2002, is the only other recent Alaska governor who had school-age children while in office.

"There was no valid reason for the children to be along on state business," said Knowles, a supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. "I cannot recall any instance during my eight years as governor where it would have been appropriate to claim they performed state business."

Knowles said he brought his children to one NGA event while in office but didn't charge the state for their trip.
In February 2007, the three girls flew from Juneau to Anchorage on Alaska Airlines. Palin charged the state for the $519.30 round-trip ticket for each girl, and noted on the expense form that the daughters accompanied her to "open the start of the Iron Dog race."

The children and their mother then watched as Todd Palin and other racers started the competition, which Todd won that year. Palin later had the relevant expense forms changed to describe the girls' business as "First Family official starter for the start of the Iron Dog race."

The Palins began charging the state for commercial flights after the governor kept a 2006 campaign promise to sell a jet bought by her predecessor.
Palin put the jet up for sale on eBay, a move she later trumpeted in her star-making speech at the Republican National Convention, and it was ultimately sold by the state at a loss.

That left only one high-performance aircraft deemed safe enough for her to use -- a 1980 twin-engine King Air assigned to the public safety agency but, according to flight logs, out of service for maintenance and repairs about a third of the time Palin has been governor.
http://www.mlive.com/elections/index...n_childre.html

[Enrico Palazzo]

Originally Posted by Spartan Al

Wasn't a major shopping spree how Julia Roberts was transformed from a no-name, classless streetwalker into a high class whore in Pretty Woman?

. Classic Al!

But seriously, we're in a recession, facing a recession, and Caribou Barbie and her family are out spending tens of thousands of dollars shopping at high end department stores and then she goes out claiming she is just like "real americans." Whatever.

That Saks in St. Louis, my wife worked at that mall when I was in law school. It's one of those malls where they play classical music in the parking garage and you feel like you should wear a blazer to go shopping there. "Real Americans" don't shop there. And Saks in New York? Doesn't she know NY is not "real America" or even a "pro America" part of the country? How many of her rural PA supporters can afford anything in Saks? And Obama's the "elitist?" What say you, righties?

[DantonIzzo]

[WavSpartan]

All that money on clothes so we could picture them wadded up at the end of the bed

[IGGcitable]

[SpartyOnInChitown]

Originally Posted by Enrico Palazzo

. Classic Al!

But seriously, we're in a recession, facing a recession, and Caribou Barbie and her family are out spending tens of thousands of dollars shopping at high end department stores and then she goes out claiming she is just like "real americans." Whatever.

That Saks in St. Louis, my wife worked at that mall when I was in law school. It's one of those malls where they play classical music in the parking garage and you feel like you should wear a blazer to go shopping there. "Real Americans" don't shop there. And Saks in New York? Doesn't she know NY is not "real America" or even a "pro America" part of the country? How many of her rural PA supporters can afford anything in Saks? And Obama's the "elitist?" What say you, righties?

You're going to complain about $150,000 after the Barackopolis at the DNC????????? You have no room to talk.

[MikeJohnson]

Who cares man McCain is going to lose everyone knows that.

[LA_Spartan]

"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said spokesperson Tracey Schmitt. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

Maybe they can auction the clothes on Ebay.

[Bob Sakimano]

RNC shells out $150K for Palin fashion - Jeanne Cummings - Politico.com

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August

I hope "real America" is paying attention...

[Enrico Palazzo]

Originally Posted by SpartyOnInChitown

You're going to complain about $150,000 after the Barackopolis at the DNC????????? You have no room to talk.

that's all you have, dude?

And I do have room to talk. Caribou Barbie claims to represent "Hockey Moms" and "Joe Six-Packs." The only hockey moms who shop at the Saks at Plaza Frontenac in STL are moms of NHL hockey players and as for Joe Six Packs, they would probably be stopped by security. More like Joseph Shiraz III. More hypocrisy by the worst VP candidate in history.

Though I do hope she stopped by the Canyon Cafe in the mall, great southwestern cuisine.

[Dr. Strangelove]

So it's ok to spend over $500 million buying tv ads, but not ok to make sure that you look good when you go on tv?

[Spartan Al]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangelove

So it's ok to spend over $500 million buying tv ads, but not ok to make sure that you look good when you go on tv?

I can look good for a lot less than $150,000. As was previously stated, you cannot go around claiming to be an everyday person and make such expenditures. It completely corrupts your message and the image you are trying to present.

[PRStoetzer]

Originally Posted by Spartan Al

I can look good for a lot less than $150,000. As was previously stated, you cannot go around claiming to be an everyday person and make such expenditures. It completely corrupts your message and the image you are trying to present.

She didn't make the expenditure.

[Bob Sakimano]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangelove

So it's ok to spend over $500 million buying tv ads, but not ok to make sure that you look good when you go on tv?

when you're the Hockey Mom extraordinairre from small town god-loving America, running around the parts of "real America" extolling the virtues bible-beating Wasilla, Alaska, Joe Six Pack, and Joe the Unlicensed Plumber, while questioning the patriotism of other Americans, yep...

[tjmania]

Originally Posted by PRStoetzer

She didn't make the expenditure.

nice comeback

[DeHannen]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangelove

So it's ok to spend over $500 million buying tv ads, but not ok to make sure that you look good when you go on tv?

It's a feeding frenzy now Doc, no sense wasting your time trying to show their hypocrisy. Half the country is on the edge of ejaculation (probably about 95% of this board). They have lost all sense of reason and perspective at this point. Boy, are they going to be disappointed in the morning.

[Bob Sakimano]

Originally Posted by PRStoetzer

She didn't make the expenditure.

the RNC held her down - while she begrudgingly gripped a rifle dreaming of shooting a poor unsuspecting moose - and strapped the Anne Klein couture to her body...

[Enrico Palazzo]

Originally Posted by Bob Sakimano

the RNC held her down - while she begrudgingly gripped a rifle dreaming of shooting a poor unsuspecting moose - and strapped the Anne Klein couture to her body...

did you get an advanced copy of that Palin porno, Bob?

[Bob Sakimano]

Originally Posted by Enrico Palazzo

did you get an advanced copy of that Palin porno, Bob?

no - but at least that's a job she's qualified for...

[Spartan Al]

Originally Posted by PRStoetzer

She didn't make the expenditure.

She didn't come up with Joe the Plumber.

She didn't come up with the "hockey mom" phrase.

She didn't come up with "real America."

Those are things that were created by the RNC. So when the RNC tries passing off the Republican Vice Presidential candidate as a simple person from a small town and as somebody who can relate to small town Americans, well, small town Americans don't spend $150,000 on clothing, make up and hair.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Originally Posted by Spartan Al

I can look good for a lot less than $150,000. As was previously stated, you cannot go around claiming to be an everyday person and make such expenditures. It completely corrupts your message and the image you are trying to present.

You're not a 43 year old women. It's not like she can buy a new $50 tie, put on a fresh white shirt and wear her good black suit like Joe Biden.

This is stupid and she doesn't even get to keep the clothes.

[Enrico Palazzo]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangelove

You're not a 43 year old women. It's not like she can buy a new $50 tie, put on a fresh white shirt and wear her good black suit like Joe Biden.

This is stupid and she doesn't even get to keep the clothes.

not keeping the clothes is GOP damage control. The odds of those clothes going to charity are about as high as Izzo becoming the new football coach at his alma mater, NMU.

You make it sound like a 43 year old woman has no choice but to spend $150,000 on clothes. Like the only place she can go it Saks and Nieman Marcus. Just 2 miles away from the upscale mall she shopped at in STL is a mainstream mall where she could have shopped at Macy's. And, there is NO NEED to spend that much on clothing for 2 months of campaigning or doing anything. My wife is an AVP at a bank in NYC; she hasn't spent $150,000 in her lifetime on clothes and yet she has a full closet. This is just more hypocrisy from the party who claims to represent "real Americans" like "Joe Six Pack." Joe Six Packs shop at Marshalls and TJ Maxx, not Saks 5th Avenue.