Palin political committee spent tens of thousands on "family vacation" bus trip

I was wondering about this last month...interesting to see the Washington Post start to wonder as well.

Palin political committee spent tens of thousands on bus trip - The Washington Post:

"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."

The Republicans’ ChutzPAC

NYTimes.com:

"The PAC founders blithely and cynically contend that the restriction really only applies to how funds are spent, not how they are solicited. This means that once a donor has given a candidate the maximum $5,000 allowed under law, the candidate could ask for thousands more to be donated to an “independent” Super PAC that everyone knows to be an aggressively partisan election weapon.

This hearkens to the million-dollar donations harvested by the Nixon campaign. The scheme should be shunned and denounced by lawmakers and candidates in both parties. Unfortunately, Democratic fund-raisers say that if the inept Federal Election Commission allows the Super PAC to go forward, they will join the new arms race."

Related articles

• Dem groups ask FEC to rule on Super PACs (legallypolitical.blogspot.com)
• Dem PACs To FEC: If 'Republican Super PAC' Can Coordinate With Candidates, We Will Too (politicore.wordpress.com)
• Super PAC or Pack of Trouble? (blogs.wsj.com)