Palin claim on eBay plane sale doesn't fly

[sabra]

Source: Chicago Trib

JUNEAU, Alaska — When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin sought to illustrate her frugality and flair to delegates at the GOP convention Wednesday, she described how she disposed of a corporate jet acquired by her unpopular predecessor.

"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.

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.

Also, while Palin characterized the plane as an extravagance of former Gov. Frank Murkowski, who arranged for its purchase in November 2005, the plane saw heavy use transporting Alaskan convicts.

...

When the state first began using the plane in November 2005, prisoner transport accounted for 58 percent of the jet's use, and Murkowski's office used it 23 percent of the time. Over time, Murkowski's usage increased.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-palin_planesep05,0,3470364.story

[mudderfudder77]

1. The next paragraph...

Today, the U.S. Marshals Service transports 90 percent of Alaska prisoners to Arizona.

The last U.S. Marshal flights to and from Arizona transported 145 prisoners at a cost of $127,000, or about $875 per prisoner. That's cheaper than the jet, whose per-prisoner cost averaged $1,674.

[Mark E. Smith]

2. The 'Barracuda' is more like a Fib Guppy

[Zenlitened]

3. It's almost as if... as if... the Republicans are telling lies to us!

:eyes:

They do it with such ease, even a kind of sick, sociopathic glee -- as if they get off on knowing they've looked America straight in the eye and lied.

It's twisted. They really are the Charles Manson Party.

:puke:

[Amonester]

6. Nah... Apparently, M$M's Republican shills want to make sure that...

"Fool me once, and ya can fool me anytime ya want again." becomes widely accepted and espoused by the American People for the remaining of this century.

[madrchsod]

4. if she would have sold it on ebay

the state would have had to pay ebay fee of at least 7% now the fee been raised to 8.75%. who in the hell but jets on ebay?

[jmowreader]

29. People actually do...

A few days ago there were 23 of them. Since then, the auctions on them have all ended, but there are other planes you can bid on.

[Cronopio]

5. Wow. It's Sarah "Just one damn lie after another" Palin. nt

[slackmaster]

7. The obvious purpose of her saying that it was put on eBay

Which was technically true, was to demonstrate that she isn't behind the times technologically like McCain.

[HopeHoops]

8. GASP - what next, she wasn't a hockey mom afterall? It was snow shoe polo?

[young_at_heart]

9. And yet----McCain picked a winner, according to the media

So they keep telling us!

[lutherj]

10. I've never been to Alaska, but it's my understanding that Juneau is only

accessible by plane or ship. I'm sure there are many places in Alaska that are only accessible by plane. It doesn't seem to me all that extravagant for the governor of Alaska to have a plane. Unless of course the governor of Alaska doesn't really do much.

[mwb970]

13. But it's not the plane, it's the lying. /nt

[ladywnch]

21. heck according to Cindy McCain you simply HAVE to have a jet to get around AZ!!!!

and AZ is about the size of the north star borough in AK!

[jmowreader]

30. The governor has ALWAYS had a plane...

There's no damn way you could govern that state without one--but a jet is the wrong kind to get. When Murkowsky took office, the state had a King Air, which can land on unimproved runways--jets are only good for paved ones. As far as I know he didn't sell it, and used the jet to fly only between Juneau and Anchorage.

[Bandit]

31. It was a luxury jet

The state has always provided transportation for the governor and or other departments. Those planes were capable of landing in most if not all of the "remote" villages and municipalities around the state. The luxury jet could not..It was strictly for vanity and very unnecessary and was voted down numerous times by the people by very wide margins. The Governor at the time decided to go behind the people's back and buy it anyway. It was a major issue in Alaska and one of the reasons Murkowski was thrown out on his butt. It was an extremely popular thing for Palin to do right off the bat. One of the reasons she has such high approval ratings in Alaska. At least up until her speech the other night. I think that cost her at least forty points.

[mwb970]

11. Has Palin been honest and straightforward about *anything* yet?

All I see is lies and obfuscation. Everything she says has an implicit, unspoken "but..." statement that completely negates what she is saying. Kind of like bush's signing statements.

Book banning, secessionist party, Troopergate lies, Bridge to Nowhere lies - my God, this woman is a perfect Republican! Not an honest bone in that cute body. Damn shame. She could have been a contender.

[Joanne98]

12. She doesn't happen to know the entrepreneur does she?

Remember. Selling something for below value and getting kicked back under the table is an old game.

[L. Coyote]

22. See post 20 below. Bush might! Don Young connections too.

[John Q. Citizen]

14. The "plane controversy as solid evidence of being a reformer" isn't very impressive,"

unless you live in Alaska, I guess. In fact, if the state put it in use in November 2005, how long after that did Palin get sworn in as Governor?

Who did the state buy it from?

How much was the storage/maintenance costs while the plane didn't sell on eBay?

States buying equipment and selling equipment is certainly worth looking into and should be transparent, yet it's not exactly uncommon. I don't see that it qualifies a Governor to claim extra-ordinary reform creds because Alaska had a plane they didn't need and sold it. She saved Alaska from a jet plane?

If it's cheaper for the citizen of Alaska, then great, but it's not like she deserves a medal simply because she's willing to fly commercial. If she does fly commercial. Does she around Alaska? Is that cheaper than using a state jet?

We only know how 81% of the jet's time was used, (23%former gov + 58% prisoner transport= 81%)that would leave 19% for some other use. I wonder what?

[Winterblues]

15. To be fair she did not say she sold it on ebay only placed it on ebay

She actually placed it on ebay twice and it didn't sell. Finally it sold for less than half of what was paid for it. It was one of those things that sank the Murkowski campaign. Murkowski wanted his own private jet and the people of Alaska several times told him no. He discovered he had access to a line of credit and could go around the people which he did. The people did not like that and he was thrown out on his ass.

[Demit]

16. Yes, but she could have said simply that she sold it. There was something she wanted to imply.

These people are very careful with their constructions. They want you to draw an inference so they can come back and say "but I never SAID that." It's disingenuous. The poster who said she probably wanted to sound hip and current is probably right.

On edit: Also she probably wanted to make it sound that she's just like regular people, and does what regular folks do.

[JonLP24]

17. That is sick and very misleading of her

I actually considered that the only possible good thing she has done, getting rid of a private jet bought on government funds. Thanks for posting this, even though it wasn't enough to sway me away from Obama the truth really needs to be out there.

[maddezmom]

18. and McCain just repeated the LIE in WI with Palin

:eyes:

[maddezmom]

19. and McCain just repeated the LIE in WI with Palin

:eyes:

[L. Coyote]

20. Sold to Larry Reynolds of Arlington, Texas?? Safari Club Contributor?

The plane, the plane, .... who bought the plane?

The NY Times article points away from Texas and makes a unique and curious point
of telling us how the "Valdez" buyer found out about the plane!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/25/us/25jet.html

Murkowski used state money to buy it for $2.7 million.
Larry Reynolds, paid $2.1 million.
Dan Spencer, director of administrative services for the Public Safety Department, said
Reynolds learned of the plane through Speaker John L. Harris, Republican of Valdez.

You don't suppose we are being directed AWAY from what the unseen hand is doing?

Who is Larry Reynolds?

A Larry Reynolds of Arlington Texas has worked for the Reynolds trust.
REYNOLDS, LARRY ARLINGTON, TX 76015 of the THE REYNOLDS TRUST occupation CONSULTANT
gave $300 on 12/11/2001 to the SAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL PAC

This 527 PAC funneling money to Don Young, George Bush, Conrad Burns, Tom Delay, Randy Cunningham, Doolittle, Feeney, Bilbray, Pombo, Renzi, Hayworth, Lott, Issa, Talent ($41,206 in '06), Craig ....

Any relation to Bush/Cornyn/RNC supporters at REYNOLDS OUTDOOR LP in Dallas?

This is not the Larry Reynolds who knows Texas Ranger club owner Tom Hicks, right??

[L. Coyote]

27. Safari Club loves Bush, Stevens, and Young

Safari Club International
4800 W. GATES PASS ROAD
TUCSON, AZ 85745

BUSH, GEORGE W  President	Republican	DC  	--	G	$10,000	05/12/2004
BUSH, GEORGE W 	President	Republican	DC 	--	G	$10,000	09/03/2004
BUSH, GEORGE W 	President	Republican	DC 	--	G	$982	09/03/2004
BUSH, GEORGE W 	President	Republican	DC 	--	G	$3,630	10/14/2004
BUSH, GEORGE W 	President	Republican	DC 	--	G	$15,648	10/19/2004
BUSH, GEORGE W 	President	Republican	DC 	--	G	$5,085	10/29/2004
BUSH, GEORGE W 	President	Republican	DC 	--	P	$5,000	01/20/2004
BUSH, GEORGE W 	President	Republican	DC 	--	G	$10,000	03/14/2004

STEVENS, THEODORE F (TED)   	Senate	Republican	AK  	--	P	$2,000	02/26/2008

YOUNG, DONALD E   	House of Reps	Republican	AK  	00	P	$595	02/27/2008
YOUNG, DONALD E 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	G	$2,000	04/11/2008
YOUNG, DONALD E 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	G	$501	04/25/2008
YOUNG, DONALD E 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	P	$2,000	01/25/2007
YOUNG, DONALD E 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	P	$2,000	05/22/2007
YOUNG, DONALD E   	House of Reps	Republican	AK  	00	P	$1,500	02/18/2005
YOUNG, DONALD E 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	P	$2,000	01/21/2006
YOUNG, DONALD E 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	P	$496	03/31/2006
YOUNG, DON E 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	P	$1,000	01/24/2004
YOUNG, DON E   	House of Reps	Republican	AK  	00	P	$1,000	02/01/2003
YOUNG, DON E   	House of Reps	Republican	AK  	00	P	$1,500	03/24/2002
YOUNG, DON E 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	P	$2,000	01/12/2001
YOUNG, DONALD   House of Reps	Republican	AK  	00	P	$1,000	03/01/1999
YOUNG, DONALD 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	P	$1,000	03/03/1999
YOUNG, DONALD 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	P	$2,000	07/28/1999
YOUNG, DONALD 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	G	$1,000	02/04/2000
YOUNG, DONALD 	House of Reps	Republican	AK 	00	P	$1,000	02/04/2000

[tuckessee]

23. Is anyone here actually familiar with ebay?

Was the jet listed on ebay? Many high dollar items are listed there but few sales actually occur, at least officially through ebay.

It's quite common to use ebay as a place to simply advertise a big ticket item - not necessarily to sell it there because the fees for a completed ebay transaction are sky high.

The way it's done is to list the item with a high starting price or reserve. Buyers will then contact the seller and the negotiations and final sale occur later off ebay.

I've advised many people to use ebay the same way for real estate, autos as well as high end ($1,000 or more) comics, cards & war souvenirs.

[L. Coyote]

24. Didn't the broker get a higher % than eBay would have?

Who is the broker?

[thecrow]

25. Well maybe she did put it on ebay but she didn't say she SOLD it there

And that's just what the Republics do... they change ONE word and it is perceived to be one way when in actuality it's a lie or some change of meaning that is so gross, the dumbed down public eats it with relish and thinks it's a good thing for them.

Edit to add this:

"Sarah Palin, reformer of truth"
See? I just did it myself! When in reality, I should have said "Sarah Palin, reformer of the truth"

IOW.... Barbie Moose, Liar.

[demo dutch]

26. that's right that's all she said" I put it on Ebay" .... Pretty misleading

[L. Coyote]

28. McCain LIED twice in 1 sentence. He said she sold it on eBay for a profit.