Cost of Dressing Palin Embarrasses GOP
Do Posh Labels Make Sarah One of Those Elitists She Criticizes
Oct 24, 2008
Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers filed a news report claiming a watchdog group has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging federal campaign laws were broken by Palin and family members receiving the clothes.
Republicans Hope Palin Image Doesn’t Unravel
Now Republicans are afraid this sartorial splendor will not be understood by the average American mom and pop whose votes Palin is wooing. Her relationship with working-class Americans might fray long before the clothes are threadbare. It might become unraveled in front of those who admire her outdoor enthusiast’s and small town mayor’s image.
A political consultant for Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election campaign said “It looks like nobody with a political antenna was working on this,” noting the designer clothes undercut her spiel of being “a ‘one-of-us’ kind of candidate.”
The clothes make her look like a professional woman. However, the same jacket-skirt ensembles are available off-the-rack at much cheaper prices. That’s the version Palin used to wear.
Style Didn’t Change But Labels Cut New Swath
Financial disclosure forms show that the ivory jacket worn for her Republic Convention acceptance speech was a $2,500 silk shantung Valentino.
A New York Times article quotes Glamour Magazine’s editor-in-chief responding to the $150,000 tab: “Honey, I could have dressed you for a lot less.” When the magazine used an online poll to ask if these expenses were too high, 72% said yes.
Palin advisors said the $150,000 was classified as “campaign accessories”.
The sum was shrewdly allocated. Had Palin been dressed at the expense of the McCain campaign, it would have been conversion of campaign money into personal use, which is prohibited. That rule may not apply to party committee money.
Tax Liability Skirted
Alaska Public Offices Commission disclosure requirements mean Palin must report gifts valued over $250 from one giver. Federal tax rules require her to pay income tax on the $150,000 “gift”. Palin will dodge that by giving the clothes away.
In defense of Palin, she probably didn’t have the right wardrobe for campaigning in climates of 50 states at short notice.
The new clothes have the old look. Could Sarah have scammed Mr. Maverick and his political henchmen? Did Sarah sense her value to McCain as “fall guy/girl” and say “I’ll do this if you do that?”
Palin scorns pretension. She labeled people with passports as elitist. Did she feel compromised when she got a passport to go abroad, thereby—according to her campaign trail logic-- joining the ranks of elitists? That’s what the $150,000 is about. Don’t these clothes with designer labels make her one of those despised elitists?
McCain Dresses It Down
When confronted by reporters, McCain did not attempt to justify the expense. No matter what the question, his repeated response was that Palin needed the clothes and they would be donated to charity.
McCain had something else to say. He criticized the amount of money the Obama campaign was spending by saying: “One thing we've shown in history--you get unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns, you get corruption and you get scandals," McCain said.
What does that have to do with red suits, spike-heeled boots and designer labels for a Palin who is desperately trying to identify with financially stressed Americans? The United States electorate will decide.
A companion article shows Sarah's home with plane parked in the driveway.
SOURCES: “$150,000 Wardrobe for Palin May Alter Tailor-Made Image,” by Patrick Healy and Michael Luo,” Oct. 23, 2008, New York Times; “Look Is the Same; the Labels Have Changed,” by Eric Wilson, New York Times, Oct. 23, 2008; “McCain Has Terse Response on Palin Shopping Spree,” October 23, 2008, Washington Post Online
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