TPMDC

Sarah Palin’s PAC Pays $7K To ‘Republican Presidential Travel’

Former Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK)

Updated at 6:10 p.m.

Sarah Palin may not have decided whether she’s running for the president yet, but she’s certainly traveling like she is.

Palin’s political action committee, SarahPAC, paid $6,999 to a business called “Republican Presidential Travel” that is based out of a Washington, D.C. post office box, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday.

There’s not much info out there online about Republican Presidential Travel, but one record showed it was an alternative business name for Moby Dick Airways, a private jet company used frequently by Newt Gingrich.

Moby Dick’s Roy Oakley told TPM that his former business partner Doug Garrett, the former owner of Moby Dick Airways, operates Republican Presidential Travel. Garrett told TPM that Republican Presidential Travel is headquartered in Alaska and under an agreement with the new owner of Moby Dick Airways only does charters in Alaska. He referred questions specifically about the services his company provided to Palin to SarahPAC.

Palin’s PAC paid another $27,850.00 to the Florida-based Air Partner Private Jets for an air charter in April, according to the FEC report.

SarahPAC’s FEC report also shows that Palin paid $13,708.44 to Fast Signs for a “Bus Wrap” on May 26, as ABC News first noted. That was three days before her bus tour kicked off.

And while nobody would accuse Palin’s bus tour of being well planned, her FEC filing shows two $5,000 payments for “logistical trip consulting” on May 16 and 17.

Some other fun expense:

  • $10,000 to Orion Strategies for “Issue Consulting” on Jan. 31.
  • $5,l794 to Sar-El Tours and Travel for “Tour of Holy Land” on March 17, plus $5,029 to Top Secure Ltd. for “Security and Car and Drivers Israel.”

The full expense report is available here.

2012, Federal Election Commission, Sarah Palin
Ryan J. Reilly

Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.

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