Open Secrets has reported on Sarah PAC for the 2012 election cycle. Total funds taken in were $2,808,966. Total funds spent were $3,155,063. Thus, SarahPAC this cycle has spent 350,000.00 more than it took in. Contrast that to the 2010 election cycle where the SarahPAC took in $5.7 million and spent $4.4 million dollars. Two observations are obvious. First the SarahPAC is spending more than it earns, and secondly, total contributions are down.
The information regarding candidates to whom the SarahPAC made financial contributions is also informative. A total of $55,000 was donated by the PAC to Republican candidates for the House of Representatives, and a total of $10,000 was donated to candidates for Senate.
No money was donated to any candidate for President. Moreover in the 2012 cycle, SarahPAC has only donated approximately .025% of the money it has taken in to candidates. The unmistakable conclusion from this data is that if you are a donor to the SarahPAC, your donations are being used almost totally to support Sarah Palin, and a fraction of 1% of your donations actually go towards funding a political candidate. It shouldn’t come as any surprise to any donor to SarahPAC that the politician who quit to enhance her personal net worth, is still working to enhance her personal net worth.
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June 16, 2012 at 8:28 am
Beaglemom
Does she have to pay federal tax on the money she uses for herself from her PAC? If not, that is one good reason to ban such fake fundraising machines. In fact, I don’t understand why any of them exist. If you want to donate to a candidate’s campaign, you should do so – directly. Or give to the political party of your choice. It makes absolutely no sense to me to contribute to someone’s PAC in the hope that that person will put the money into another person’s political campaign.
June 17, 2012 at 12:57 pm
malialitman
Beaglemom,
Good question. I’m not a tax expert, but I think the contributions are taxed but she probably claims that expenses of hers are expenses of the PAC.
June 17, 2012 at 6:55 pm
SarahPalinIsntTheDevil
It’s really easy to see where the money has been spent if you spend 5 seconds on Google. PACs are heavily regulated, heavily reviewed, and have to report everything. (I know, because my company just started one.) Hate on Palin all you want, but everything is on the up and up. That is all.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00458588
June 17, 2012 at 6:58 pm
malialitman
SarahPalinIsntTheDevil,
I never said that her PAC was guilty of misreporting, but I do think there has been misuse of PAC funds. Clearly some of the charges paid by the PAC were expenses that should have been paid for by Sarah Palin personally, and that she should have claimed as income.
June 18, 2012 at 12:01 am
Kate (@AKRNHSNC)
Palin has spent less than 1% of her PAC funds on donations to candidates and has charged candidates expenses for speaking on their behalf. That’s what the PAC is supposed to be for, NOT family freakin’ vacations!! Nothing is ever legitimate in the Palin family, her past speaks for itself.
June 16, 2012 at 8:57 am
Tony
SarahPAC is probably the largest biggest personal scam since the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.
I wonder if Palin’s God told them to do it?
June 16, 2012 at 9:25 am
RF
How is it possible to spend money they don’t have???
June 16, 2012 at 9:39 am
AlaskanAlso
Do you think Alaska Fund Trust or whatever it is called these days is just their rainy day fund, accumulating interest and ready to bail them out (maybe literally) one day?
June 16, 2012 at 9:39 am
CIP
When this PAC was first created, anyone with half a brain knew monies donated to candidates would be minimal at best. I wonder if Alaska Fund Trust donees were ever paid back. RME.
June 16, 2012 at 9:43 am
Gina
I don’t understand it… if Sarah Palin is so loved in Alaska and did such great work as governor then how come in SarahPAC’s contributor list of $200 or more you can count her Alaskan contributors on one hand and still have a lot of fingers left over?
Didn’t Sarah say she was the governor of the largest state in the union.
It looks like to me the only way Sarah Palin can get money from Alaskan taxpayers is through her Alaska Film Credit Scam she set up for herself and Bristol before she quit being governor of Alaska for the good of Sarah?
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?sort=A&cmte=C00458588&cycle=2012&Page=15
June 16, 2012 at 11:29 am
Anonymous
Interesting that she can’t pony up any cash to help out “her” candidates, but she can pay Aries Petra consulting $22,000 between 11/01/11 and 02/29/12 for speechwriting and research…. I guess RAM must get paid by the word these days
Also noticed that a lot of the people getting paid seem to be retirees or self-employed…
June 17, 2012 at 12:53 pm
malialitman
Anonymous,
And her PAC keeps lawyers on retainer, but wonder how much work they do for her personally?
June 16, 2012 at 11:38 am
Xenon
That’s not all it’s spending…
While I am by no means a fan or sympathizer of the so-called Tea “Party” and it’s ilk, one cannot help but condemn Palin in the strongest possible terms for mortgaging the faith of her followers for personal gain. She is an apex con whose character I would place no higher than that of a televangelist. Clearly, it’s “tea for one”…and Palin is the only one eating cake at the trolly. Sadly, she is too blind to realize that her insatiable appetite for popularity and influence has now begun to slowly devour her from the inside out, starting with revelations such as these.
June 16, 2012 at 11:46 am
sachet
Sarah and her family are living large off PAC money, yet she gets away with it. Why is she not indicted like John Edwards?
What she is doing is illegal, and in your face. She does not fear prosecution. Something is very wrong with this picture.
June 16, 2012 at 12:53 pm
i Don't Trust The Palins
This SarahPAC report of what money SarahPAC took in and where it was spent is only what Sarah Palin wants the government to know.
Nobody, not even the government really believes every dollar is accounted for.
When it comes to Troopergate, money laundering, property taxes, medical insurance claims (Trig’s birth), education, expertise claims, Todd and Sarah being faithful to each other, how many kids Bristol had, Bristol’s chin implants, mono, involvement with breaking and entering, drug usage, sex partners, pregnancies before marriage, Wild Ride, who built the two story red house, paybacks, bribes, hush money, black mail, stuffed bras and everything else, do you think the Palins are honest?
Do you think the Palin family were honest when they filed their IRS 1040 taxes?
Does anybody believe that the Palins disclosed how much money they made through their prostitution ring to the IRS?
Didn’t think so!
June 16, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Linda
Single struggling mother Bristol was living large in Los Angeles when she was living in a mansion while bull riding in bars and filming her reality show antics in LA under the pretense of doing charity work.
Sarah Palin is living large under the pretense that she collects money through SarahPac and is giving it to politicians.
Todd Palin is living large pimping out single mothers to the Secret Service and to the Anchorage Police Dept.
These Palins should write a book on how to get away with prostitution, scams and con jobs.
At least that would be honest work.
June 17, 2012 at 3:14 pm
sachet
The Palin’s are con artists, scam artists, and grifters.
June 17, 2012 at 4:03 pm
carolnc
Spot on!!! Good post.
June 16, 2012 at 1:45 pm
The Lawman
And that surprises you? lol…most of Alaskans know she lives beyond her means…she always tells on herself…either before hand, during or after…
Confess those sins…isn’t that what a Christian is suppose to do?
June 16, 2012 at 2:30 pm
conga1
Found this in local newspaper, June 16, 2012, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, page A-5, “Secret Service Files Raise Concern” Via FOIA, a 229 page report was released to the AP and other news organizations following the Secret Service prostitution scandal, describing “accusations filed against Secret Service employees with the Homeland Security Department’s Inspector General.” Sorry, gotta run. Will look for PPG link later.
June 16, 2012 at 5:30 pm
conga1
Here is original URL to June 16, 2012 PPG article, “Secret Service Files Raise Concern”: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/us/national-news-briefs-61612-640564/
Shortened link: http://ow.ly/bCQJK
June 17, 2012 at 12:47 pm
malialitman
conga1
Thanks for sending this link!
June 16, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Alicat
Unbelievable that she raked in 2.8M. She obviously still has quite a few deep pocket donors or a lot of small money donors. Why would people give money to someone that isn’t running for office? I guess it’s the same crowd that sends money to televangelists. Fools, which I am coming to believe we have way too many of here in these United States. Thanks for the info Malia.
June 18, 2012 at 12:06 am
Kate (@AKRNHSNC)
I looked at her donor list and noted that the 2012 report includes donations from 2011 and the majority of them are from prior to her announcing that she wouldn’t run for President. They dropped after she spent money from the PAC on the family vacation and then even further on October 5th.
The idiots at C4P still think she’s going to be the nominee!! The delusional are plentiful over there!
June 18, 2012 at 7:18 am
malialitman
Kate,
I think Palin may still think that herself!
June 16, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Celia Harrison
How do they spend more than they take in? Was part of the money spent already in the PAC? Are they funneling money into the PAC from some wealthy donor? If they are spending out so much money I wonder if they plan to dissolve the PAC.
June 16, 2012 at 5:16 pm
MM
things that make ya go huh…….there may be a reason Scarah has not backed Romney. This is smelling like the AK rep. convention take over, yikes!
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/15/47495.htm
“If the judge rules in our favor, I won’t be surprised if three or four new candidates, say Sarah Palin, jump in and say they want to be considered,” Gilbert said.
“It will be the most interesting national convention in my lifetime if the judge rules for us on this.”
June 16, 2012 at 5:31 pm
MM
here is more….I think this could get ugly for Romney and turn out to be a good thing for Obama.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/13/47402.htm
“But the Republican mavericks claim that in almost every state, the defendants have violated this law by harassing delegates who don’t support Mitt Romney.
“This harassment included the use of violence, intimidating demands that delegates sign affidavits under penalty of perjury with the threat of criminal prosecution for perjury as well as financial penalties and fines if the delegate fails to vote as instructed by defendants rather than vote the delegate’s conscience …
“Defendants have used threats of violence, including dressing security type people in dark clothing searching out supporters of a candidate defendants do not approve of to harass and intimidate said delegates from voting their conscience.”
June 17, 2012 at 12:47 pm
malialitman
MM,
Thanks for the link!
June 16, 2012 at 6:12 pm
NJfan
If she overspent where does the money come from to make up the difference?
June 17, 2012 at 12:46 pm
malialitman
NJfan,
I guess she had cash on hand? You know common sense conservatives would never spend money they didn’t have.
June 16, 2012 at 6:42 pm
sunnyskies
Is it possible that Sarah PAC could have been used to launder Todd’s ill-gotten monetary gains? Could Todd have dealt out wads of cash to “friends and clients” who in turn made donations to Sarah PAC? I’ve wondered what Todd did with his profits.
June 17, 2012 at 4:01 pm
carolnc
Maybe Todd is paying coverup money to the APD for ignoring his prostitution ring!!!
June 16, 2012 at 6:52 pm
sunnyskies
I looked over the report and was also struck by the small contributions to candidates and soooooo much for the internal workings of the PAC. But I had no idea just how small until you posted it: 0.025% of all SarahPAC income went to support candidates. The rest obviously went to support Sarah! It does look like contributions to her PAC are sliding down…. maybe this will be the end.
June 16, 2012 at 8:10 pm
jane
Over 2.8 million PER YEAR. The song and dance routine that goes with this is, “Nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you try.” Ira Gershwin.
June 16, 2012 at 8:31 pm
dz
Wonder who/what the HSP on the top expenditure side. Maybe it’s a typo for “S Palin Herself”
June 16, 2012 at 8:45 pm
JenniferinVirginia
Those are pretty staggering numbers. She overspent by 350K, and of the 2.8 million she hauled in, only 65,000 went to GOP candidates. How does she justify that? Seriously, how much overhead does this non-candidate for anything actually have?
The repugs are always throwing around the term “slush fund” against President Obama, but here you have the real thing in black and white.
She’s a first class grifter and obviously isn’t trying to hide it.
June 17, 2012 at 12:17 am
WakeUpAmerica
Disgusting, thieving grifter.
June 17, 2012 at 8:35 am
Amy
At this point, I’m not even outraged anymore with Sarah Palin about this. She’s a grifter. It’s what she does. But the FEC and the IRS are supposedly tasked with protecting the public from tax evasion fraud ,and that is all this PAC is: a way to raise and spend tax-free money.
Speaking of OpenSecrets.org, put in Sarah Palin’s name some time. She hasn’t personally made a political contribution since the mid-nineties, yet keeps exhorting her dumb fans to make “political” contributions to her.
June 17, 2012 at 9:59 am
Katie
Malia, we haven’t heard from you. Hope everything is okay with you?
Take care
June 17, 2012 at 12:41 pm
malialitman
Katie,
I am so sorry! I am fine, but was out of town for a wedding and couldn’t get internet. So Sorry!
June 17, 2012 at 10:53 am
GypsyGirl
That is why these so-called PACs should be illegal.
How is this justified?
It shows the hypocrisy of ALL this PAC campaign bs.
June 17, 2012 at 11:29 am
Kate (@AKRNHSNC)
After looking at the PAC’s donors, it’s quite obvious that the majority of the money came from the 2011 year prior to Palin announcing she wasn’t going to run for President. Donations are way down as they should be considering her frugal donations. She had the nerve to request $$$ be given to Walker & Kleefisch for the recall yet it doesn’t appear that she donated to either of them. Her idiot supporters at C4P prove they are brain-dead as they still believe she is going to be the nominee for the GOP. Of course, they also think that she’d win in a landslide victory against President Obama. WTF are they smoking over there??
June 17, 2012 at 11:30 am
Lynne
I hope that downward money spiral leads straight to her piggy bank, because she’s gonna need it when the well runs dry. (Pardon the somewhat mixed metaphor.)
June 17, 2012 at 3:59 pm
carolnc
Why isn’t she being investigated??? I have always questioned the lack of accountability for money she has received. At one point, I think Todd was keeping the books. That ought to tell you something!
June 17, 2012 at 6:40 pm
malialitman
carolnc,
I bet she is being investigated, but they may be waiting for political reasons to announce any claim.
June 18, 2012 at 7:27 pm
sunnyskies
If Todd was cooking, er I mean, keeping the books, I seriously think someone should look into money laundering – from Todd’s “business.” Pretty sure he did not claim his profits from his prostitution ring to the IRS.
June 18, 2012 at 8:05 pm
malialitman
sunnyskies,
That would certainly make sense, and I bet someone has alerted the IRS to the possible fraud.