california: il caso palin
April 15, 2010
Sarah Palin wants what? Bendy straws and a private jet, please
Sarah Palin faced embarrassing revelations yesterday about lavish demands that she makes before or speaking engagements, including first-class air travel or large private jets, suites in hotels and even bendable straws in her water bottles.
The former Republican vice-presidential candidate, who has reportedly earned $12 million (£7.75 million) since she resigned as the Governor of Alaska last summer, also insists that all questions must be collected from the audience in advance to be screened.
The speaking contract details were retrieved from a rubbish bin by a group of students at the California State University, where Mrs Palin is due to give a speech in June. Five pages of the contract were passed to a local Democratic politician, who sent them on to the press.
Mrs Palin faced controversy in 2008 when it emerged that hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent by the Republican Party on clothes and make-up for her and her family after she was picked by John McCain to be his running-mate.
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The latest revelation will do little to damage her reputation among the party’s grassroots activists, who view her as a straight-talking hero, but it undercuts her claim to be a down-to-earth “hockey mom” who is fighting for ordinary working Americans.
Among the perks demanded in the contract, it was requested that Mrs Palin fly first-class from Anchorage in Alaska, to California, if she flies on a commercial jet. If not, “the private aircraft must be a Lear 60 or larger”. If the university were to hire a private jet “the Speaker, their travelling party and the plane crew will be the only passengers”.
Mrs Palin must also be provided with a hotel suite and two single rooms in a “deluxe hotel” and a “laptop computer and printer (fully stocked with paper) and high-speed internet” and “all meals and incidentals”.
The contract, which was drafted by the Washington Speakers Bureau and dated March 16, stipulates that: “For Q&A the questions are to be collected from the audience in advance, pre-screened and a designated representative shall ask questions directly of the speaker.”
Since last month Leland Yee, a Democratic state senator, has been demanding to know how much the university was paying Mrs Palin, who has received up to $100,000 for appearances.
The university claimed that it had no documents relating to the speech and could not answer that question. Yet the students, acting on a tip-off, were told that documents relating to Mrs Palin had been put in a bin on campus. They found five pages of the contract among other shredded documents.
Mr Yee called the document shredding “our little Watergate in the state of California”.
Jerry Brown, the state attorneygeneral, said that he would investigate whether the university’s denial had violated public disclosure laws.
Trail of controversy
· Days after being named as John McCain’s running-mate Sarah Palin revealed that her daughter, Bristol, 17, was pregnant
· On the campaign trail she claimed foreign policy insight by noting that Russia was visible from Alaska
· Mrs Palin came under fire in October 2008 when it was revealed that the Republican National Committee had spent $150,000 (£97,000) on her outfits, including a $2,500 Valentino jacket and $3,000 Louis Vuitton handbag
· In November 2008 Fox News claimed that Mrs Palin thought Africa was a country
· When she gave a speech at the Tea Party Convention in February Mrs Palin read from notes off her hand
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traduzione (sommaria) di google