OpenSecrets.org: The Money Behind Palin

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The Money Behind Palin

Published by Massie Ritsch and Lindsay Renick Mayer on August 29, 2008 1:11 PM


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Known as a reformer, Palin has also set herself apart from other Alaska politicians, if only by not being indicted or otherwise investigated for bribery and other ethical lapses. At the Center for Responsive Politics, we've strung together these observations about Palin's campaign fundraising and money --- and money-related scandal -- in Alaska politics:

* When running for governor in 2006, Palin raised a total of just $468,400 on her own in 2006 and $874,000 in combination with the lieutenant governor candidate, Sean Parnell, for a total of $1.3 million, according to FollowtheMoney.org, the website of the National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP). That's about the cost of winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from an incumbent. John McCain has raised more from the oil and gas industry alone ($1.5 million) for his presidential campaign than Palin has raised statewide in her political career. But McCain didn't bring Palin on board to win financial backers. Because he has opted into the public financing system for November's election, he'll receive an $84 million check from the government following the Republican convention and won't have to worry about appealing to Americans for anything other than their votes. Until then, though, adding Palin to the ticket may stoke fundraising a bit, especially among social conservatives.

* Palin's addition to the McCain ticket amps up the national spotlight on corruption in Alaska politics but also on her role in reforming the way business gets done in the state. In the Veco corruption scandal, involving bribery and other influence-peddling by an oil services company, several members of the state legislature have been convicted, and one of Alaska's senators, Ted Stevens, has been indicted for failing to report more than $250,000 in home repairs and gifts from Veco. Despite the cloud over him, Stevens won his Republican primary last week. Also tied to the Veco scandal, Alaska's lone House member, Don Young, is under investigation, as well, for improperly inserting an earmark into a spending bill to benefit a Florida company whose employees had contributed to his campaign. Young is awaiting official results from his too-close-to-call primary contest with Alaska's lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell, whom Palin endorsed.

* The top presidential fundraiser in Alaska has not been John McCain; it's been Barack Obama. Obama has collected about $218,000 to McCain's $140,000. Still, Alaska is a Republican-leaning state, both in money and in votes. Fifty-eight percent of Alaskans' money in the 2008 cycle has gone to Republicans. While soundly in the Republican column, Alaska donors have turned significantly more Democratic in this election. In 2006, 71 percent of their money went to Republicans, the GOP collected 59 percent of the cash in 2004 and 86 percent in 2000.

* Picking Palin may juice McCain's last-minute fundraising as he prepares to switch over to public financing after the convention, but McCain's fundraisers shouldn't expect much to come out of Alaska. Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Alaska ranks 50th in total contributions to federal politics, just above North Dakota. In the 2008 cycle, the state has produced just $2.6 million for candidates, parties and PACs. (California, the top state, has produced $209 million.)

* As governor of a major oil-producing state, Palin supports more drilling, both offshore and on. Like other Alaska politicians, she has close ties to the oil industry. Her husband has worked in production on the North Slope for BP, in fact. Democrats have repeatedly tied McCain to the oil and gas industry, calling him "Exxon John" and citing his financial support from the industry. Will the opposition try to cast his running-mate as "B-Palin"? Through July, McCain had collected more than $1.5 million from oil and gas interests for his presidential campaign, more than three times what Obama has collected from the most unpopular industry of this election--a fact the Democrats have pointed out repeatedly. They'll have a hard time painting Palin as bought-off by the oil industry, however. While it's one of her top-giving industries, she has collected just $12,850 from oil and gas interests for her state campaigns, according to FollowtheMoney.org.

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