| | |  Americas & Beyond | October 2008 
The High Cost of Dressing Sarah Palin
 Capitol Hill Blue
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The Republican National Committee went into financial overdrive to dress Sarah Palin up for public consumption after John McCain campaign plucked her out of Alaska as his suprise running mate.
The self-proclaimed hockey mom and heroine of the working class now struts around in more than $150,000 in clothes and accessories from trendy stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.
According to Federal Election Commission filings, the GOP vice president blew through 75 grand in a one-day shopping binge in Minneapolis in early September.
The cost of putting lipstick on a pig is rising... and it may be illegal.
Reports Politico:
 | 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.
The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission's long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use. |  |
Palin, it turns out, is used to having others pay for her good times. Reports The Associated Press:
| 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. | |
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