This site is here to help you learn the truth about Alaska governor Sarah Palin. She and the McCain campaign are creating a story about her which is not supported in any way by the facts. They have already told dozens of outright, verifiable lies about her, with more new ones every day. How can you trust someone to govern honestly if they can't even tell you the truth? Please keep checking back to stay informed.
Claim: Governor Palin sold her predecessor's pirvate jet on eBay for a profit. Truth: Sarah Palin did not successfully sell that jet on eBay Truth: When she did sell it, the state lost money! Truth: Placing the jet on eBay wasn't even her idea
Both Governor Palin and more recently John McCain himself have repeated this story, which in it's earlier form was already highly misleading, but has now been built up into a fully-fledged lie. In a speech on September 5th 2008, John McCain said the following:
"You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor, and sold it on eBay -- and made a profit!"
The state of Alaska paid $2.7 million for the plane that was used by Palin's predecessor. The primary purpose of the plane was actually to transport criminals to Arizona, because Alaska does not have enough room to house all of it's own prisoners, but it was also used by the governor in his official duties.
When Palin became governor, she did in fact try to sell the plane on eBay, but after listing it three times without finding a willing buyer, she instead allowed the plane to be sold to a private citizen in Alaska for only $2.1 million, a net loss of about $600,000. There is some evidence that the individual who was given this deal was a major contributor to Palin's campaign, but Alaska does not maintain records of political contributions so this cannot be verified.
Here's a report from CNN:
As more attention has been given to the story, it has come to light that not only was the sale of the jet on eBay unsuccessfuly, but the idea to place it on eBay was not even originated by Palin. It was already Alaska's standing procedure to try selling large state-owned equipment using the auction site.
What is left unmentioned is that Palin didn't come up with the idea to sell the plane using eBay in the first place. Moreover, because of the unique purchasing terms of the aircraft -- which required the state to make payments amounting to $20,000 per month even if the jet wasn't in use -- the decision not to hire a broker to help sell the property appears in hindsight to have been a costly mistake. Before the Alaska Republican took office, it was something of a standard operating procedure for the state to try to sell such big-ticket items using the online auction site. Officials had been doing it since at least 2003, three years before Palin became governor. "It was the practice of the state to dispose of items such as this via eBay prior to listing the jet," Vern Jones, Alaska's Chief Procurement Officer, acknowledged on Tuesday.
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