Palin political committee spent tens of thousands on bus trip
Sarah Palin’s political action committee spent tens of thousands of dollars covering the costs of the former Alaska governor’s “One Nation” East Coast bus tour this spring — a trip that Palin (R) has repeatedly characterized as a “family vacation.”
According to a list of itemized expenditures filed by SarahPAC to the Federal Elections Committee and published Thursday, Palin’s committee spent nearly $14,000 on the “bus wrap” that festooned the family’s tour bus with images of the Liberty Bell, Constitution and American flag. The committee spent $10,000 on “logistical trip consulting,” $3,600 to the bus driver and at least $7,000 on lodging.
But the total for the trip is likely much more, because many bills came in after the June 30 filing deadline, Sarah PAC treasurer Tim Crawford said in an interview. In addition, many other expenses associated with the trip, such as photography, videography, Internet fundraising and airfare, are more difficult to account for. (One item in the report describes $6,999 paid to an air charter company called Republican Presidential Travel on June 9, at the tail end of “One Nation.”)
The details of the Palin committee’s expenditures for the first six months of the year came out on the same day that the National Park Service issued an official reply to Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who had written Park Service Director John Jarvis in early June for an accounting of whether the Palins received special treatment or whether taxpayer resources were spent to accommodate them.