Posted on 10/25/2014 11:56:31 AM PDT by Bratch
Sarah Palin‘s PAC is extremely stingy when it comes to donating money to her fellow Republicans: a report from Open Secrets reveals that since the 2014 two-year election cycle began, her PAC has raised a total of $2.7 million dollars, but only donated $150,000 of that money to actual candidates, a donation rate of 5.5%.
This year was even worse: according to SarahPAC’s third quarter filings this year, they had $1.4 million cash in hand, but only donated $45,000 to nine Congressional candidates — about 3% — between July 1st and September 30th. What did they spend the rest on?
Many of the same consultants she has used all along — for speechwriting, fundraising, logistics and research. There’s even someone paid to consult on “coalitions.” Travel, presumably for Palin, is part of the equation; a PAC like this is useful for keeping a high profile nationally without having to pay those pesky airline and hotel tabs out of personal funds. And the PAC sent $10,885 to HarperCollins — publisher of all three of Palin’s books — for “books for donor fulfillment.” That wasn’t the only book purchase by the committee: A lump sum of $13,000 was listed as being spent for “lodging, SUV rental, books for donors.”
According to OpenSecrets, Palin’s PAC is notoriously “parsimonious,” noting that “of the 417 leadership PACs that made at least one contribution in that cycle, SarahPAC was one of only 19 to give less than 10 percent of its total expenditures to candidates, other PACs or party committees.”
They also note that many of the candidates she’s donated to in this quarter are either extremely long shots or no longer in the running. For instance, she donated $5,000 to Joe Miller, a Tea Party candidate who attempted to run for the US Senate seat held by Democrat Mark Begich. “Miller lost to Dan Sullivan in the GOP primary, but Palin has not seen fit to donate to the Republican nominee, who is locked in nearly a dead heat with Begich,” Open Secrets observed, and added that Palin herself has only donated $628 to a federal candidate in her entire life.
SarahPAC has yet to publicly comment on the story.
[h/t The Daily Caller]
Isn’t $5000 the legal limit? You want Palin to break the law?
Maybe the direct spending ramps up in October.
You know, when people are finally paying attention.
Sarah Versus Hillary....would be the greatest contest in presidential history. If that happens, Sarah should make a big fuxxxxxing deal out of Billy Jefferson Clinton’s (BJ) behavior in White House. Seducing a young intern during office hours in people’s house with perverted sex is as degenerate as it gets IMO.
Im not sure what the laws are but $5000. from a PAC sounds absurd
What about all these other PACS ?
$5000 to all the Senators in existance is only a half a million $
And I may, or may not give them my vote. So what?
First of all, Open Secrets? Really? Another left wing wacko website?
If I had a PAC there wouldn’t be too many candidates I’d be supporting either.
I would think if she wants to do some good Sarah should put $ into the Primaries
it was reported on DC Chatter that Malia had her first abortion in September after a fling on the beach in Nantucket
The only PAC or candidate I’ve ever donated to is the NRA-PFV. Small donations to candidates do nothing to influence them. But small donations through a single issue group actually help buy some influence on an issue near and dear to my heart.
Bingo. Exactly my thoughts as well.
There is insufficient information here for any serious analysis.
I think it’s a non-story, and Palin isn’t even my preferred candidate for 2016, mainly because I think she will lose badly. Campaign travel is expensive, and Palin’s principal method of helping conservatives is to show up at campaign events, which she does, quite energetically.
If this story is not true ...that is something entirely different.
But if it is true and Sara Palin is essentially running what is the same as a phony charity she deserves criticism not defense
True, and I agree.
But for the time period that was selected, many states had their primaries before July 1st, and the amount of $45,000 does not include her appearances with candidates, travel, etc.
It is just direct contributions.
It is a misleading number, I think, devoid of context.
As I understand it, this is a PAC for donating to and supporting candidates she and her followers would choose to support, not for her own candidacy, although the funds could be converted should she choose to run. It doesn’t matter if *she* is a candidate or not, she’s raising money for political purposes. $150K in donations IS a pretty paltry showing of the $2.7M raised.
It would be interesting to see how much was spent on her travel to rallies, etc. for those candidates. That is worth as much to a candidate as an actual cash donation. The PAC needs to explain that.
At the opposite end of the political spectrum, Barbara Streisand actually donates virtually nothing to candidates she supports, but her putting on a show for their benefit, even singing only one song, is worth much more than she’d have donated. It’s just the way it works. The benefits of celebrity. (But I don’t think Streisand raises money through a PAC of her own to support those candidates.)
“To say Sarah spends only “X” percent in this way or that, is meaningless unless you know what the norms or expectations of spending by these PACS normally are.”
No way.
That’s like saying a murderer surrounded by other murderers should not be condemned because he only stabbed the victim 10 times instead of the norm of 15.
This article has some ugly stuff in it.
This is a Steve Schmidt/Nichole Wallace alliance/attack who are also taking shots at Ted.
I think it’s time FR look at some recent disturbing facts about Perry, Schmidt, Romney and Nichole.
They’re going to take down Palin (again) and Cruz.
how much was spent on travel to campaign events?
It is a pity to keep those dollars locked up. If they’re being sent to be used to support conservatives, then they should be going out to where they’re of the most help.
For instance, here in blue Oregon, we have a terrible time raising money as everyone thinks it’s a waste. But if we could meet the Dems on equal footing - dollar-wise - we’d be able to beat some of the leftists who are making our lives miserable. I’ve been helping a candidate for County Commissioner, & if we’d been able to raise just $30k early we could’ve had this race won. Now it’s going to come down to whether enough people have seen his opponent in person. Even Dems come up to us after forums & ask us ‘is she crazy?’ Yes, but how do we get the word out without funding?!!!
In the North Carolina Senate race, for example, there’s already been spent $70-80 million. In IOWA, for Pete’s sake, already there’s been spent something like $50 million.
A PAC with $2-3 million is barely paying for travel expenses.
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