The airplane sold by the State of Alaska by Alaska Governor Palin was bought at $2.7 million and sold for $2.1 million. Many of us have heard this. Most of us have also heard, of course, that it was not sold on eBay but through a "conventional aircraft broker." But who was it sold to? The Washington Post reports on their campaign web page that the lucky recipient was a political contributor to Palin's campaign and that of Alaska House Speaker John Harris, as well.
But in fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the jet, shy of the original $2.7 million purchase price, according to contemporaneous news reports, including a story in the New York Times.
Dan Spencer, the director of administrative services for Alaska's Public Safety Department, said that the Republican speaker of the Alaska House, John L. Harris, brokered the deal. Reynolds made campaign contributions to both Palin and Harris in 2006 and 2007.
What happened to the "conventional aircraft broker" often cited by the mainstream media? Is John Harris, Alaska House Speaker, also an aircraft broker? Well, not according to his official biography, which says that he owns a company called Valdez Industrial Supply. Unless the buyer, Valdez businessman Larry Reynolds, contributed more than $600,000 to Palin and Harris, then he is the only one who "made a profit" in this deal, by getting a luxury corporate jet for much less than the State of Alaska paid for it. Rather than doing a favor to taxpayers, Palin's sale of the plane was a big favor to a campaign contributor. It's as simple as that.
UPDATE: Please read this well-researched diary, mentioned in the comments: Previous Diary