According to today's Chicago Tribune, the story Palin told during her nomination speech about selling the Alaska Governor's jet on eBay is comically inaccurate:
"That luxury jet was over the top," Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said to loud cheers. "I put it on eBay."
Palin's statement implied the plane was sold through the online auction site revered for empowering millions of small entrepreneurs, and Palin's spokeswoman insisted Thursday that the transaction occurred. But the plane failed to sell on eBay.
Is there anything about this woman that will bear scrutiny? From the Bridge to Nowhere we've gone to the Auction That Went Nowhere. More detail below.
Instead, the 23-year-old 10-seat Westwind II was sold in August 2007 for $2.1 million to a Valdez, Alaska, entrepreneur; that's about $300,000 less than a broker's asking price, according to news accounts.
And there's this from the Mercury News:
According to PolitiFact, the plane, bought by her Republican predecessor whom she beat in 2006, was listed for sale three times on the San Jose internet auction giant. But no one ever met the minimum bid. The plane was listed with an asking price of $2.5 million in 2007. The state had paid just under $2.7 million for it in 2005.
Finally, the state turned to an aircraft broker, who sold the jet to an Alaskan businessman for $2.1 million.
No wonder she's sealing herself in a cone of silence. Her hallmark achievements, fighting the Bridge to Nowhere, selling the Governor's plane on eBay, turn out to be just so much horse hockey.
According to the Swamp Politics article cited above, the plane was used primarily for transporting prisoners. A large percentage of Alaskan prisoners end up being shipped off to Arizona. I guess there's not enough room in Alaska or something.
Also it's worth noting that Alaska is, um, somewhat large, and maybe it's not actually such a bad idea for public officials to be able to rely on a private jet as opposed to commercial or charter carriers, although it does turn out that the costs for transporting prisoners seems to have gone down per flight since the sale of the plane at a steep discount.
It's also interesting to note that "Waterbreak-Gate" might not have come to the public's attention if she had flown in an official private jet as opposed to requiring commercial carriers to allow her to fly in her third trimester, after her amniotic sac had ruptured, exposing herself and her baby to grave risk.
Keep hiding from unscripted reality Sarah. It's only matter of time before you're "catching up to history."
Update [2008-9-5 11:43:57 by mrblifil]: As related by Louse from the comments:
The State lost a lot of money on that deal (5+ / 0-)
The jet was eventually sold, through a broker, to a Texan Republican who moved to Valdez in 2005, and has bought up a good portion of the town. He is using it to fly wealthy hunters out to the Russian Far East where they can bag bear and elk without having the hassle of getting their guns through customs.
Alaska had bought the jet in 2005 for 2.7 million, and sold it two years later for 2.1, minus the 1.5% brokers' commission. That's not fiscal responsibility we can believe in!
From the Anchorage Daily News:
For about $10,000, an outdoorsman -- a rich outdoorsman -- can buy passage between Anchorage and Petropavlovsk, a trip of about 4 1/2 hours, Reynolds said. If he can lure 300 clients a year, the business will do fine, he said.
.....
"We have a horrible time flying with firearms now," he said. "One of the enormous appeals of this is not having gun problems."