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.
So essentially Sarah Palin took the hard earned money donated to her Political Action Committee to purchase her own book. She then donated the books to her fundraisers to thank them for getting her the money to buy the books in the first place. Then Harper Collins paid her a royalty for each of the books she bought with the donated money.
Jesus, that is just horrible.
But hey maybe not. Perhaps she did what her prayer partner Joe Lieberman did back in 2004.
When former Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman sought in 2004 to give away copies of his memoir, "In Praise of Public Life," he declined to take royalties off the books purchased by his campaign committee. It is not known whether Palin entered into a similar arrangement.
So what do we think? Did she decline the royalties or not? Yeah, that is kind of what I think too.
But as scandalous as that is, it may not be the most egregious use of her PAC money.
Palin also used the funds to pay IzzyLene Consulting to provide media and political consulting for a whopping $54,000. As many of you undoubtedly know that firm belongs to Meg Stapleton who serves as the spokesperson for SarahPAC. Stapleton was originally Palin's spokesperson while she was the governor. She now performs much the same function, but somehow that now makes her a "consultant".
And apparently Palin has a pretty bad consulting addiction.
She also paid the following "consultants":
Pamela Pryor, media and political consulting, $36,000.00.
Timothy Crawford, consulting/fundraising, $36,000.00
Northstar Strategies, political/logistical/advance consulting, $50,000.00
Aries Petra Consulting LLC,Consulting/ Media/Communications, $12,000 (This is kind of an embarrassing amount since this is in fact Rebecca Mansour, who is Palin's favorite Facebook writer.)
Andrew Davis, Media and Political Consulting, $22,500.00.
Kim Daniels, Media and Political Consulting, $21,000
Some business referred to as The McIntosh Cos., provided fundraising consulting for $3000.00,
Callisto Consulting LLC, Internet consulting, $8000.00. (This guy is actually Joseph Russo, the founder of the "sea o'pee" who may now be the guy who surfs the net to let Palin know when somebody is saying bad things about her. Hi Joseph!)
Orion Strategies, Political Issue Consulting, $30,000.00
Eric Schnure, Consulting, Communication, Speech, $14000.00
Kathryn Cascella, Fundraising Event Consulting, $2100.00
Even Palin hanger on, Ivy Frye jumps on the "consulting" bandwagon. Frye apparently earned a respectable $7,500.00 for something called "Administrative Clerical Consulting", which may just be a fancy way of saying she answered the phones and read Palin's mail.
All in all Palin paid an unbelievable $296,100.00 in "consulting" fees. That is about an eighth of her entire take for 2009. You know it would be significantly cheaper if she were just addicted to heroin.
I have no idea if in Palinworld "consulting" means something completely different than it does in our world, but I have to wonder, if she was getting so much consultation how come she made so many incredibly stupid mistakes? Did she not listen? Are they not very good? Or are they not really what we would call, consultants?
If I was a cynic I would have to wonder if all of this is not some elaborate method for laundering money or funneling it to her supporters by calling them "consultants". But nobody is cynical enough to believe THAT, are they?
My personal favorite is, taking donations from well-meaning fans to spend thousands of dollars on the fancy "bus wrap" that was used to bilk more money from aforementioned well-meaning fans. So basically, they paid the marketing fees in order to sell stuff to themselves.
ReplyDeleteAnd guess who ELSe just became a "consultant"?! Her very own daughter Bristol. Now, isn't that convenient. Think we'll see any expenditures to HER LLC in 2010?
ReplyDeleteWhether or not she took the royalties for these conflated sales, she did it to pump up her best-selling standing.
ReplyDeleteNothing more embarrassing than quitting your job to write the great American life story of Alaska's most over-achieving sham to a revealing fringe-level drop in the bucket. We all knew conservative and religious groups would take crate-loads to inflate her "impressive" sales, but LOL, she did a hefty portion of it all on her own. She's a best-selling author don't you know?
Ha ha, hi Joseph, can we call you Joe? We are certain Sarah does.
aka...Rocky in Texas said...
ReplyDeleteFraud Alert!!!
All of you well intended sarah donors are being...
Played For Fools!!!
I hope some of you can see thru some of her scams!
Orion Strategies LLC is Randy Scheunemann's. You remember, he was Bill Kristols snoop inside the McCain campaign and he supposedly wrote her speech for Hong Kong.
ReplyDeletewow. why am i surprised at this brazenness? it's going to be very interesting to see how she, or rather her army of "consultants," handle this one.
ReplyDeleteThis actually makes Harper Collins a lit more palatable in the eyes of this consumer.
ReplyDeleteA lot of small time writer with honest to goodness talent and accountability, along with the usual suspects that question every little single thing Sarah does (myself included, nestled in my annonyminity) were disgusted by the over the top fanfare the publisher seemed to bestow on this great pretender of a leader, wife, mother, Chief Executive, writer, speechifier, pro-lifer (with an awful lot of choice-makin) and (snicker) fiscal / commonsense conservative.
But it turns out all the bells and whistles, hoopla and fanfare were taken care of Sarah's drooling consultants! This is priceless! Thank god for some measure of checks & balances on this woman, her self-devotion and elevation
continues to be exposed.
I sure hope her PAC activity on bases are re-examined. Desiring to indoctrinate our good American soldiers and their families in a most exploitative manner possible. Well, she didn't parachute in at least! : )
She pays a small fortune to "consultants" and STILL makes the most inexplicably idiotic decisions possible? WTF!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteWith consultants like that, who needs enemies?
Keep the bright light focused on this. This will bring her down. This is money laundering. They are already resorting to their usual smoke and mirrors with the silly Face Book post. Keep being the thorn in Sarah's side, Gryphen.
ReplyDeletePalin has sold over 2 million copies of 'Going Rogue' and still counting.
ReplyDeleteShe bought 3,000 copies herself, a drop in the bucket.
Either RAM and Joe are complete idiots to work for so little, or some of those large consulting fees are going back to them for their "media" work.
ReplyDeleteThe ceepers creepers would admire that pair for taking low pay - proves their dedication and all. Would be sweet if anyone could follow more of those large amounts of money back to them.
Truth be known Gryph~ the crook probably made advanced agreements with ALL those alleged 'consultants' to receive a "kick-back" from the money laundering, er--I mean, donations.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sarah dear, I know you're wondering how we're figuring you out, right?
Stay tuned, toots!
My take on it is.... They are consulting businesses, she was interviewing, to represent her in the future.
ReplyDeleteNow we have to see if any of the names pop up again.
Please pay NO attention to the latest FakeBook farce....because that is exactly what they seek!
ReplyDeleteIt is simply irrelevant going forward.
If the guv-mint didn't make mandations that PAC's have to keep and file records, then lil ol' Sarah wouldn't get outed like this. After all, it's her money. The solution: get the guv-mint out of her life! No more guv-mint mandations! (That would make a terrific TeaBagger sign).
ReplyDeleteLOL Good news Sarah, you have six months before another filing is due. Go shopping darlin'.
If Ms Whackface goes to jail over money laundering....won't Todd AND Bristol be not too far behind her for withholding illegal information??? After all, Bristol is nolonger a minor.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous said...
ReplyDeletePalin has sold over 2 million copies of 'Going Rogue' and still counting.
She bought 3,000 copies herself, a drop in the bucket.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Dim Dobson bought roughly 1.5 million copies to further brainwash his minions...so there; mop meet bucket! But by all means, don't stop giving YOUR hard-earned coins...In fact, give till it HURTS!
This was most likely hush money - especially the money paid to Meg and Ivy Frye. She had to pay them off to keep them quiet. Either of them could sink her boat real quick and who knows what the others know.
ReplyDeleteHer pitiful 2 million sales will seem like nothing compared to Geoffrey Dunn and Joe McGinniss's sales to come.
ReplyDeleteSME131...I wholeheartedly agree, in which case, they are accomplices in her heinous crime sprees.
ReplyDeletekdusmdd: They are family, and as such, they do not have to testify, because it could incriminate them. At least I *think* that's the way the law reads...
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the year, BSMP, LLC will show a fat profit, out of 'PR and consultancy' - a euphemism for easy money. And the circle will complete, with Grifter Granny smiling softly to and at her supporters!
ReplyDelete"consulting" = baby sitting.
ReplyDeleteIf only we could get some of that money as INsulting fees. After all, without people like Gryph and his loyal blog readers, she wouldn't be as famous, and we've greatly enhanced her victimhood ....
ReplyDeleteJust curious: On the SaraPAC list (public info document) is $21,000 total paid to media and political consultant, Kim Daniels late in the year. Anyone know who she is?
ReplyDeleteJust Googling, I didn't find Kim, but did find a David Daniels at that same address provided in the SarahPAC document.
He is lawyer specializing in SEC investigations and securities fraud.
His name, address, and employer is on the donor list for McCain's campaign in Quarter 2 of 2008 found here: http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/
Gryphen,
ReplyDeleteAll of these ' consultants ' are all Business related but what Furby Gov. has been throwing in all of our faces going all the way back to the campaign was her PERSONAL connections ( Props ).
How many times and how many pictures did she make it a point to bring up what a ' PERSONAL connection ' she had to ALL of those Mothers connected through " HER " Triggy Bear. It practically made you gag, it was gross and OBSCENE every time she would use this ' Prop '.
A Multi-Million dollar Book deal and Triggy's ( Iconic Image and cause )is worth a PALTRY $1000 donation to her. THAT is what she feels her MOST beautiful Child is worth. You need to do a separate post just on her $1000 donation pointing out this most egregious hypocrisy. This should be an insult and a slap in the face to any Mothers in this cause. Sarah... is YOUR role Model?? She QUIT on You too.
Based on the number of times Sarah Palin put Trigg to ' work ' he was being PAID less than Children in sweatshops in Third World Countries. What was he making....?... like .25 , .50 cents a day for his work..?
Run a Headline like.. " Palin's Iconic Image worth $1000 ". That's a start.
Looks like she paid Eric Schnure $14,000 to write her Gridiron "roast."
ReplyDelete"Top political speechwriter Eric Schnure will join the Dewey Square Group as a Principal in its Communications Practice, the company announced today. Widely known for his strategic sense in both political and corporate communications, as well as his witty scripts for some of the last decade's classic Washington roasts, Schnure begins work at the prominent public affairs firm on Wednesday, January 13, 2010."
More Cowbell @ 9:15
ReplyDelete"Her pitiful 2 million sales will seem like nothing compared to Geoffrey Dunn and Joe McGinniss's sales to come."
Don't forget Levi's tell-all.
Besides, IMO that 2 million sales figure may not be accurate although we'll probably never know.
We can't expect Palin to spend any of her personal fortune. Plastic surgery is expensive, you know!
ReplyDeleteI'll take Door #3, Monty!
ReplyDeleteDisregarding all the dumb gaffes and idiot mistakes, if these so-called "consultants" were working as hard as I believe Lady Gag-Me would MAKE them work for her (i.e.: all their waking hours), she'd be paying them less than slave wages from some of the dollar figures quoted.
I'd go with Gryph's last paragraph, wouldn't you?
PS--Is there nothing in the PAC roster for the Beehive salon re: "Utterly Misguided Hairdo Advice" and "Bumpit Inventory"?
ReplyDeleteOrion Strategies, Political Issue Consulting, $30,000.00
ReplyDeleteMore on Randy Scheunemann -- the man who accompanied $arah to China and allegedly helped write her speech. Her PAC pays for her China speech and she personally pockets upwards of $100,000. Wow, great set up, her contributors pay ALL her expenses and she banks ALL her earnings.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=73068
"From January 2007 to March 2008, the McCain campaign paid Scheunemann $70,000 – pocket change compared to the $290,000 his Orion Strategies banked in those same 15 months from the Georgian regime of Mikheil Saakashvili."
Gryphen - please shine a spotlight on this - Palin's SarahPAC spent $6181.12 to purchase a MACHINE that signs FAKE signatures 'apparently' to add Palin's signature in the books that they are sending out to the folks that send in a $100 donation for a 'signed' book.
ReplyDeleteShe probably didn't get royalties on books bought through Harper-Collins. I deal with authors (on a much smaller scale than NYT best-seller Sarah Palin), and usually books bought from the publisher do not count for royalties. Many authors instead get their books from Amazon, where it's often cheaper once tax, shipping, and royalties are calculated.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the publisher usually considers sales directly to the author when figuring out the profitability of a book and the size of the advance.
gryphen:
ReplyDelete"P.T. Barnum said "There is a sucker born every minute." That was the best news Sarah Palin every heard."
--------------------
every heard ?
You must be really pissed that no money went to Bristol's LLC.
Are your "sources" doing dumpster diving all over Alaska looking for "proof"
hahahahaha
Geoffrey Dunn and Joe McGinnis will not have big organizations buying up crate-loads of their books because neither of them are political shills, but I think their books will sell very well all the same, purchased by people who will actually read them.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the meaning of 'Consultants': It's been a while since I've been involved in accounting (Canada), but when an expense is labelled 'consulting' rather than 'employee expense', the norm is (was) that 1) the person being paid is a free agent who is not being instructed in detail how to do what they do; 2) they usually have a lot of irons in the fire (the particular work they do for the person paying them is one gig among many); 3) they work on contract to provide a specific service and then the relationship stops (employees go on and on); and 4) they are normally paid not by the hour or by salary but by the work done (of course, there are fixed-price contracts and cost-plus contracts).
ReplyDeleteIn the particular cases that you are raising, it is a matter of an audit, and perhaps a legal opinion, whether the consulting expenses listed are legitimate consulting expenses under American election law and the regulations of the Federal Election Commission.
The same applies to the other expenses. It is a matter of accounting practices and norms, and the legal standards imposed by American law, whether they are legitimate.
OT, but this just in--RAM has posted on her facebook page that she's calling for Rahm Emanuel to be fired over his use of the term "f***ing retarded" (referring to liberal groups thinking of running health care-related ads against Democratic lawmakers, as per HuffPo).
ReplyDeleteOh, wait, that's SARAH calling for him to be fired.
Hey, wait again--didn't SARAH refer to her beloved Trig as "my retarded baby"?
How soon the Palinistas forget--or will they finally realize they're being played like violins?
Don't forget, the signatures on the signed copies from the pac are done by a machine (also paid for by the pac).
ReplyDeleteShe made a hefty advance and there are no royalites until the advance is made back. Now I don't have the numbers but it is possible that she won't have any royalites, it was all up front.
ReplyDeletebut she has to pay income tax on the original advance
Actually, Anon, she has not 'sold' over 2 million copies. Several right leaning and far right bought the book in bulk to give away if you subscribe. It's a false number. If I go just by those that showed up for her book signings, I can say I've sold more books than Palin. If I have my pastor, and several others of mega churchs push and buy the book for 'donations', then whammo! I'm a best seller.
ReplyDeleteLoved thecommet from Helen and margaret. They said they started the book, but taking a que from Palin herself, they quit.
Well, one thing is for sure: with all the publicity around The Grifter and her shenanigans in the past few months and the coverage received in the MSM over her FEC filing, you can bet if the FEC gives her a pass, the IRS won't.
ReplyDeleteOr are they still jsut going after people who make $30K a year?
Dear Anon: 4:24: Good points all. We seem to be in a free for all rather than a rule engaged enterprise. This is an expose of how "progressed" life under Say-ruh rule would be. Rules? Rules are irrelevant evidently where this runner-up is concerned.
ReplyDeleteWhether it is money laundering or "funneling," it just does not pass the smell test. Wonder if the FEC is paying attention?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeletePalin has sold over 2 million copies of 'Going Rogue' and still counting.
------
Perhaps so, but how many of those books are just sitting around collecting dust, never to be read?
Hasn't FEC had it's teeth removed under GW et al.? A loveable gummey bear. I don't suppose their bloated budget to do nothing has been frozen do you? What if they actually had to do something; well, they won't have the funds. Continue.
ReplyDeleteGryphen,
ReplyDeleteI read in an article recently that she was already planning a second book. I cannot remember where I saw it but the author had interviewed her about this. Have you heard anything about plans for a second book? What the hell could she have to write about? How I quit my job and made lots of $$$$ from a lot of uneducated, illiterate people??
As for those who seem to think she has sold a lot of books, the number being quoted is the number distributed, not necessarily sold. Newsmax is still trying to sell it for the bargain price of $4.95 and Dobson's group has the same type of scam going on.
I live in a fairly red state with pockets of blue and they can't give the book away at our local Barnes & Noble. They recently moved them from the front of the store where they were positioned next to Game Change and Going Rouge. Those are selling well according to the salesperson I spoke to who was obviously an SP fan because she said she couldn't understand why people would believe that over the true SP book.
Roger Ailes said on This Week that 2 mil books were sold. Not much of a source if you ask me. Saw one commenter on CPee site - she bought 9 books, got some of them signed on the tour. She is one of the ones still waiting for the $100 donation book. From the comment, I got the impression that she was keeping them all for herself.
ReplyDeleteThe last time they mentioned it, HarperCollins said they had printed 2.7 million copies. I've seen reports that 3 million were printed and over 2 million have been sold.
ReplyDeleteNYT:
“Game Change,” a book about the 2008 presidential campaign that has a tell-all, confessional feel to it, debuts at No. 2, near the top of our first Caucus list of political best-sellers in 2010.
None of that has apparently detracted from Ms. Palin’s pull. Her book, “Going Rogue,” holds at No. 1 for its third consecutive month.
Jan 13: Publisher HarperCollins increased the print run twice (for Game Change), from 75,000 to 135,000, then to 155,000. But the book is out of stock until at least Friday, spokeswoman Leslie Cohen said yesterday.
Yes, Sarah might have sold 2 million copies and counting, but hopefully she didn't sell her soul.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the authorship and bookselling that is a shame, but, it's the greediness of having two separate drives (PAC and AFT) in addition, begging average americans for donations to pay her legal fees, begging folks to send their hard-earned money to her so she and family members can use funds at their discretion. It appears she won't use any of her hard-earned money from her book contract proceedings, speeches, to purchase Going Rogue and freely give back to those who donate $100.
It's like a rich child who has a birthday party - is given grand gifts and toys. Turns around and sells them for a higher price, gets bigger and better toys. Then donates those toys after he's used them and is tired of them. Nothing out of his pocket. He gives out to charity from proceeds that never touched his wallet.
Bible story: People were casting their money into the treasury; a poor widow threw in 2 mites, which makes a farthing. Jesus says to his disciples: "Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in that all they which have cast into the treasury; for all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all what she had, even all her living".
From a knowledgeble source:
ReplyDeleteMost publishers do offer to sell books to/through the author at
greatly reduced rates.
Most publishers in fact COUNT on the author being as responsible for the sale of his/her books as the publisher is.
4700 books is the number of books that would've been sold if Palin had paid the price Amazon had them listed. The book price is listed at $28.
If Palin has a somewhat traditional deal, she would receive royalties on copies purchased (even by her) up to a certain percentage of that list price. It is also likely that there is a drop off point at which she can (or her PAC) pay for books at even a greater reduction and
automatically forfeit her royalties.
In fairness she probably paid somewhere between $4-$7 per book, likely without royalties received and that would have purchased some 10-15,000 books.
Considering her sales have eclipsed 2,000,000 that's less than 1% of her total sales. The idea she was rigging her own "sales performances", as it is widely thought BOTH Bill and Hillary did with the "best seller" status of both of their presidential memoirs through
the rapid purchase of thousands of copies in the first few weeks both books were out, is really unlikely.
For two reasons...
1. She had no need to - she sold 2,000,000 books.
2. It is far too late in the cycle to cause "best seller" status to
mean much.
Basically if ABC was attempting to turn this into a scandal, if this
is the worst they could do against Palin, they'd best quit their day
jobs.
Hey Deb in Wi:
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to info on a political consultant named Kim Daniels and her Palin related work.
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/09/29/who-is-advising-sarah-palin.aspx
Check out the Thomas More law center that Kim Daniels is associated with.
Use SourceWatch or similar.
Kim Daniels may be a tru beliber- also too shes gettin some monies for doin what she belibes.
If there is a second book, it will probably be directed to the Teabaggers and all about how they are true patriots, blah, blah, blah. One of the consultants is probably writing it now.
ReplyDeleteOn Sarah Pac buying Sarah's books:
ReplyDeleteAuthors can buy their own books at a 40-50% discount, which for a $30 book would be about $15. However, they don't get royalties on those books, so many authors buy from a distributor, which gives them a good price and allows them to still earn royalties on those sales. Since Sarah's book was selling for $10 at Walmart.com, you can be sure that's where the Pac bought them.
Plus, remember: Sarah is the author of the book, not the PAC, so the Pac wouldn't have the right to buy the books at her author's discount anyway. Sarah would have to have bought them and then resold them, which is iffy contract-wise but unnecessary anyway in this case, since the war between Walmart and Amazon.com meant that her book was selling cheaper than her author discount anyway. (and yes, she earned full royalties on those books: Walmart and Amazon were eating about a $5 loss per book. Sometimes you get the feeling the devil really is on Sarah's side)
So take the amount the Pac spent on books and divide by 10; that will tell you how many of Sarah's books the Pac bought. $46,000=4,600 books
Thinking about her for too long makes me ill.
ReplyDeleteExcellent reporting as always! How deep does the Sarah Palin rabbit hole go? the fascist trinity of Murdoch/Ailes/Rove have indeed helped to market this GOP televangelist/grifter to deluded masses as a modern day Esther,but there's something much more sinister and menacing lurking behind the Palin phenomena...
ReplyDeletehttp://intheknow7.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/alaskan-mk-kitty-caribou-barbie-controlled-asset/