FEC OKs Palin spending spree that started at Minneapolis Neiman-Marcus
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 4:31 pm
- 4 Comments
Photo: Lauren Victoria Burke, WDCpix.com
A clothes-shopping spree that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin started in Minnesota didn’t break the law, in the opinion of the Federal Election Commission, even though it was paid for by the GOP.
Palin dropped $75,062 at Minneapolis’ Neiman-Marcus store while in Minnesota to accept the vice presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention. She went on to run up an apparel tab that exceeded $150,000.
A complaint (pdf) filed last year by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked the FEC to find that Palin’s purchases violated rules against using campaign donations on candidates’ personal attire.
The commission decided today that that restriction doesn’t apply to party funds (pdf).
Also named in CREW’s clothes complaint, as an agent of the Republican National Committee, was Jeff Larson. He’s also figured in a separate Minnesota-related scandal, as the lenient landlord who cheaply rented a basement room in Washington, D.C., to former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman.
Coleman’s own wardrobe procurement, allegedly using unreported cash assistance from friend Nasser Kazeminy, is the subject of yet another scandal, now said to be under investigation by the FBI.
4 Comments
Comment posted May 19, 2009 @ 5:05 pm
Thats ok, the clothes wern’t any phonier then the woman wearing them.
Comment posted May 20, 2009 @ 9:19 am
What a distortion of the facts. Palin didn’t buy those clothes. When she arrived here from Alaska, the clothes had already been bought and paid. Do you honestly think for a minute that if Palin had gone on a shopping spree there wouldn’t have been pictures, and interviews with the clerks? The only shopping I ever saw any pictures of during the campaign is when she bought shoes at Footlocker, and some diapers at WalMart.
It would be instructive if you pointed out that CREW is run by Melanie Sloan, past employee of Joe Biden, John Conyers, and Chuck Shumer.
Get your facts straight, and stop being a propagandist for the DNC.
Comment posted May 20, 2009 @ 9:31 am
Interview with clerk: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2077792/posts
Comment posted May 20, 2009 @ 12:34 pm
greg (above):
Neiman-Marcus has a private shopping service where the clothes and the salesperson come to you. Do you honestly think the campaign would be stupid enough to take Palin on a $150,000 shopping spree in public with cameras everywhere? So, I ask about your facts. How do you know that the clothes were bought and paid for when she arrived from Alaska? Or do you not have a source?
-Matt
PS: Do you let others dress you?
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