Posted on 02/01/2010 2:22:09 PM PST by kristinn
Sarah Palin has been using her political action committee to buy up thousands of copies of her book, "Going Rogue," in order to mail copies of the memoir to her donors, newly filed campaign records show.
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.
Sarah PAC spent another $8,000 on colorful bookmarks designed by a Nashville-based event branding firm. And her committee paid her publisher $20,000 for what appears to have been the cost of sending her personal photographer and another aide along on her book tour. Those expenses are listed by the PAC as travel repayment to Harper Collins.
All of the purchases took place in November and December of 2009, the records show.
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(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
The Democratic National Committee is "giving away" copies of Sen. Hillary Clinton's book "Living History" to any contributor who ponies up $29.95 per month till Election Day - a move that raises questions about whether the party has made bulk purchases of Clinton's book.
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"As a Member of Presidential Partners," DNC chief Terry McAuliffe promises in the Web site's message, "you will receive: A copy of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s book, Living History. The first 500 books will be personally signed by Senator Clinton!"
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The DNC's Hillary book offer coincides with the senator's own attempt to boost book sales through her political action committee, HILLPAC.
On HILLPAC's Web site, "FriendsofHillary.com," potential donors are offered "your own personalized copy of this historic book" in exchange for "making a contribution to Friends of Hillary."
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HILLPAC says the senator does not collect royalties on any books sold through FriendsofHillary.
The media (ABC News, National Journal, Politics Daily, Seattle Post Intelligencer, NY Daily News, MSNBC, Media Bistro, and Salon) are going potty over Sarah Palin using her book as an incentive for donations to her PAC. A search of news sites shows that as of this writing none of the outlets attacking Palin are reporting she is only following in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton.
Not to mention that it is her PAC, not the RNC, which is buying the books. I guess the implication is that she is meant to be that she is buying her own book so that she can be on the bestsellers list.
Amazon or Ebay
So instead of getting the book for 10 bucks, 6,300 doners donors got it for $100? Seems like a savay move by Palin, where is the beef in this complaint??
$8,000 on colorful bookmarks?
made with Polar bears and Moose shots I hope
My wife would buy them.. like she needs anymore.
Moose along folks.. nothin’ to see here.
I guess the media hit squad forgot to do the math. It’s about 6300 books, not nearly enough to effect her place on the sales chart
Sour grapes from loser Corporate Media hacks. They only wish they were smart enough to write a best seller! IMHO
Good ol’ MD4Bush? lolol
Sarah Buys Her Own Book to Give to Supporters.
Now if she took free copies from the publisher and failed to report the value as income, that might be of some concern.
Must be a slow news day over at the ABC.
As much respect as Ive lost for her since she endorsed Juan, I dont see a problem here.
I’ve my copy, via Borders and the wife.
It’ll be my overnight read on the way to the consult in CA.
(I’ll be bonding with my truck...)
I voted for her the last time around, expect to do so again, and, from the boss’s reaction, expect nothing in the book to change my mind.
OK.
Ed Morrissey’s take on this at Hot Air.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/02/01/shocker-palin-buys-books-to-incentivize-donors
In his words this story = ‘big nothingburger’
Congratulations to Rebecca Mansour and Joey Russo! (PDS Alert!)
Sarah's political enemies are now combing through SarahPAC's disclosure forms to try and find new material with which to attack her (and now her staff).
Get ready for more non-stories like this in the coming days.
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.
Also interesting to note, if you review SarahPAC’s filing, she paid a bundle for the booksigning tour. She paid for the bus, airfare when she had to fly, far more than I would have thought. Matter of fact, I figured that the publisher was paying for the whole booksigning tour.
SarahPAC was offering a signed copy of GR to everyone who donated $100 to her PAC, as was the Republican Governors Conference.
When I looked at SarahPAC’s FEC filing, I was really surprised on how much she paid for the booksigning tour. I always figured that the publisher paid for all that. The whole book buying deal is a non-story from beginning to end. Books bought in bulk from the publisher don’t effect the bestsellers list in the least since they are drawn up by sales reported from stores. Besides, Palin was offering a signed copy of GR to everyone who donated $100 to SarahPAC, it was a fundraising expense. The Republican Governors Assoc was making the same offer.
Pathetic effort by the MSM. Surely they can do better. :)
And I’m glad she did because I got one of those books - SIGNED!!!
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