Matthew
Mosk reported that "Palin spent more than $400,000 from her political
action committee during the first three months of 2010, using the money
donated by supporters to pay her team of advisers and cover the costs
of stays in luxury hotels, flights, and even to de-ice a private jet
that was shuttling her to a campaign rally."
The
payments from her "leadership" PAC, called SarahPAC, are detailed in a
newly released filing with the Federal Election Commission, and they
lend additional insights into how the former GOP vice presidential
nominee is paying for her whirl of post-governorship activities.
Much
of the SarahPAC money contributed by her donors is being spent on legal
and political advice. She has several consultants who help with media
inquiries, and pays a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. John McCain
to keep her fresh on global issues. A good portion is also going to the
high-end hotels and first class travel that has become a staple of her
life in the months since she left office.
At Politics Daily, Sandra Fish takes a closer look at the money that went entirely to consultants.
Sarah
Palin put the bull's-eye on 20 U.S. House races on her Facebook page
last month, but didn't donate to favored candidates in those districts
during the first quarter of the year.
Although her SarahPAC took
in $400,000 in the first quarter and had more than $900,000 in the
bank, it gave only $7,500 to candidates between January and the end of
March, plus an additional $2,000 to two other PACs. None went to
Republicans in the races she targeted.
However, since Palin didn't target the races until March 23rd, those monies might not show up until the next SarahPAC filing.
But
Fish's column notes, "Almost $243,000 went to consultants, including
almost $45,000 to PAC treasurer Timothy Crawford (some of it for
expenses), plus $21,500 for legal services. NorthStar Strategies took
in $50,000, and Orion Strategies $30,000. Consulting services included
media strategy, fundraising, candidate research and grassroots
coalitions."
At the
official site for Palin's political action committee,
SarahPAC states that it's "[d]edicated to building America's future,
supporting fresh ideas and candidates who share our vision for reform
and innovation," and the
donation page
asks supporters to "[p]lease send what you can to SarahPAC today and
help the campaigns of good, strong, commonsense Americans who will
clean up the mess that Washington has created."
Conservatives
upset about paying too much money in government taxes might not be
pleased that over sixty percent of the total donations SarahPAC
received during the first quarter of 2010 went to consultants instead
of candidates or their campaigns.
ABC News reported last week,
"Tim Crawford, a spokesman for Sarah PAC, said he sees nothing out of
the ordinary in the way Palin has made use of her account. As for the
$7,321 de-icing expense? Crawford said as Palin prepared to depart by
private jet from Dulles Airport in Washington, 'there was thick stuff
on the wings.' They thought it wise to have it removed. "