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Politics | 10/22/2008 8:05 am

The Cost of Looking Good on the Campaign Trail for Palin? $150K

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
© AP

Clothes at Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York: $49,425.74.

Maybe a pair of stylish red pumps to match a red leather jacket, among other items, at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis: $75,062.63.

Top-notch baby accessories at Steiniauf & Stroller Inc.: $295.

Looking good on the campaign trail for Sarah Palin: Priceless.

Love her or hate her, the Alaska governor’s got style. But we now know she’s had quite a bit of help picking up the shopping tab.

The Republican National Committee has spent $150,000 on clothing and accessories for the vice-presidential candidate and her family since early September, according to Politico.com. The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September around the time of the Republican convention. Other bills included $9,447.71 at Macy’s in Minneapolis, where the Palin family stayed during the conventions, and $5,102.71 at Bloomingdale’s in New York.
Campaign finance experts are wondering about the expenditures’ legality under the Federal Election Commission’s opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use. But a Republican strategist told The New York Daily News the expenditure by the party committee was legal.

Remember Democrat John Edwards’s $400 hair cuts in 2007?

McCain-Palin campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether Palin ran up the RNC tab just during one period of time, or whether it’s ongoing.

“The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent," Comella told Politico.com.

But later Tuesday night, spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said the clothes will be given to charity after the November 4 general election.

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

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Palin charged the state of Alaska more than $21,000 for her children to travel with her since she has been governor, including to events where they were not invited, and later said on expense reports they were on official business.

The charges included:

-Hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race.

-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.

-64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights for the three daughters since December 2006.

Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor’s children, but it allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business.

Click here for wOw’s Palin-tology photo essay, "Sarah Palin’s Fashion Progress From Pink to Power Suits."

Click here to see more photos of Palin’s fashions on the campaign trail.

 

66 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Elizabeth Bennett
Edwards paid for his own haircut for what it is worth. Maybe she was clothed by the campaign because they didn’t want her to show up her in Alaska clothes, because she had to represent a certain type of woman, not the “liberal feminist” that McCain stated Palin was the opposite of. I wonder if Cindy McCain was her personal shopper?
By Elizabeth Bennett on 10/22/2008 10:02 pm
gulliver fourmyle
make a silk purse from a sow’s ear? good try—-this woman-clown can’t even handle her clothes—-that doesn’t bother me—-that public money did?
By gulliver fourmyle on 10/22/2008 9:10 pm
gulliver fourmyle
make a silk purse from a sow’s ear? good try—-this woman-clown can’t even handle her clothes—-that doesn’t bother me—-that public money did?
By gulliver fourmyle on 10/22/2008 9:37 pm
Ro H
gulliver fourmyle; indeed! Isn’t it just too funny, not really, how low we (this country) has stooped? I remember when in other countries during their elections seeing some of this kind of nonsense going on. I thought it was simply because they were just more ‘foreign’ to me in terms of not understanding… etc., but - in America? Did I fall in a deep sleep, and someone placed me in a new time and space? Then I wake up to try and figure out what all these people are talking about, and doing, and why? There are so many days like this when I read some of this, and watch the news and read, see, hear what is going on around me. Have you ever had one of those days?? Or, just feeling a need to pinch yourself, or walk out of the room, come back in and see if it is still the same, or real? Where did MY Country go?
By Ro H on 10/23/2008 1:55 am
Ms. Dee
Let’s compare Palin’s expenditures to the wardrobe budget on The View. Seems like a waste of money to me, but if y’gotta go on-camera, y’gotta go top-of-the-line. It’s a glamour thing. Wonder what Tina Fey (or the SNL wardrobe department) spent to replicate Palin’s look. I just hope Liz Smith will be keeping an eye out for that charity bin. She raises good money for good causes.
By Ms. Dee on 10/23/2008 2:00 pm
Desert Rose

Palin is so annoying for some reason ..

By Desert Rose on 03/04/2009 6:19 am