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“Going Rogue” doesn’t give one a free pass

By: PaladinLostHour (Diary)  |  January 6th, 2010 at 04:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

We’ve had a great deal of deserved fun with the ethical blindness of the Democratic party.  That makes it incumbent upon us to hold our own to a higher standard.  When our own publicly embrace the higher standard, and fall short, it’s doubly disappointing; to wit:

Bristol Palin, the eldest daughter of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has set up her own public relations firm, according to articles of organization filed with the state Commerce Department.

The single-member limited liability corporation will be known as BSMP LLC and based in Anchorage. Bristol Palin, 19, signed the document as the organizer.

The story helpfully goes on to point out:

Sarah Palin’s political action committee raised $732,868 through June 30, the last available Federal Election Commission report showed.

Now, is AP continuing it’s jihad against the Palins? Check.  Is it commonplace for others in Washington to fund their less resourceful relatives off the public dime?  Check.  Would anyone care if the last name were Smith instead Palin? No. Way.

And yet – this stinks.  19 year old high school dropouts, with -0- relevant experience, don’t open PR firms.  Not unless they expect to have one, guaranteed client.  Which client is then free to funnel money from the Sarah Palin PAC, in completely legal fashion, through this paper entity to create an income stream for her  unemployable offspring.

Anyone donating a dime to Palin, who is conscious of this ethically compromised arrangement, should have their head examined.

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COMMENTS

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  • reddog53

    that the ex Governor’s PAC is providing anything to Bristol’s new company?

    As a PAC, they will have to file their expense report and the records will show a connection, if there is one.

    I think you, along with the AP, might be jumping the gun.

    • mom2oneson
    • Swamp_Yankee

      I dont see any link in that article. The jump from her PR firm to the PAC looks likea non-sequitur to me.

      I also wonder about the PR firm itself. It makes it seem as if this is just some random new career venture. But she actually does have relevant eperience. Along with watching her mother, I’m sure she has been working with PR people since 2008. I also wonder if it serves a dual perhaps, perhaps she is the principle, but she could also be the client. With her messy child custody case with Levi, protecting Tripp and other personal endeavors, maybe she set up her own shop instead of ourtsourcing everything under Sarah’s guidance

  • Richard Mullins

    …NOT!!!!! I wonder if you have a chip on your shoulders and something other than really understanding the issue. Are you a sock puppet for anyone?

  • aesthete

    this is a non-story of the sort often told by both the right and the left to implicate disliked pols without the burden of proof. It’s fishy, but right now, not enough for any genuine concern. To that end, the last sentence in your OP (“Anyone donating a dime to Palin, who is conscious of this ethically compromised arrangement, should have their head examined”) is highly inappropriate, and wrongly impugns the integrity of SarahPAC supporters.

  • PaladinLostHour

    1) How many of us would demand ‘proof’ if this was Roger Clinton setting up a PR firm as Bill Clinton’s PAC coffers were swelling

    2) My wife works with literally dozens of publicists from different media organizations, every week. It is a completely cutthroat, highly competitive field where you can work a decade or more before being given control of a single major account – much less, *owning* an agency. Experience consisting of ‘been in the spotlight’ is akin to saying, I’ve been in court, so I’m qualified to practice law.

    3) There’s nothing ignorant or nasty about pointing out the lack of business foundation for this PR firm, and that it can easily be used to legally divert funds for Bristol’s support. If you don’t have a problem with that – great. But I doubt most of the people who gave to Palin’s pac did so with the expectation that those funds could potentially go to provide income to her grown daughter.

    4) Dude, I’ve been voting for Republicans and working for the conservative cause for three decades. No one takes a back seat to me in contempt for the distortions of the MSM. *That doesn’t mean we answer with our own distortions of reality*

    5) She’s 19. Able to enter legal contracts (and start companies – that’s the point of the article). In short, an adult – not a hapless teenage girl. And, if you really believe that to be the case – you’re kind of proving my point – what value could a rank amateur add in this field of hungry professionals.

    6) Wikipedia? huh? Look, being an *person* of public interest does not make one a publicist, just as being written about does not make someone a writer.

    7) Levi? – too weak to rebut

    8) Thanks for the link

    9) Not making suppositions. Making a logical inference, based on: 1) what is possible under the law; 2) what other politicians have done; 3) Bristol Palin’s lack of any relevant experience for opening this business, and the likelihood of anyone of with means sufficient to hire a PR firm, hiring a 19 year old with no experience to represent their business.

    10) Nope. Not a sock puppet. Just a conservative that doesn’t wear blinders when one of our own looks like their about to step over the property line.

    • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

      Which is quite telling, actually.

      • PaladinLostHour

        What’s telling is the assumption that, when someone acts in a way you don’t expect, you assume incompetence, rather than a considered alternative choice (1 post: 10 consolidated responses: efficiency).

        But hey, I’m country, and my mama raised me to be polite. If you prefer Reply to This, no biggie.

        • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

          Most of them can’t ever seem to master it.

          No biggie.

    • aesthete

      but wouldn’t it be more appropriate to wait and see if Bristol’s PR firm goes under (as it, in all likelihood, would if left without support) or prospers, investigate why it stays solvent if it does, and then post concerning that? If your claim that Bristol is unethically benefiting from her mother’s popularity is true (an eminently possible outcome), I’m pretty sure that most people will have a problem with it,, but as it stands, Bristol’s opening of a PR firm isn’t enough to state conclusively that this is anything but a developing story that we should follow.

      • jayburd

        And besides, if you can’t make money off of politics, what’s the point, right?
        Actually I defer to the Apostle Paul who said something to the effect that if you are going to teach religion you’d better do it for free and have a trade on the side (tent making, carpentry) otherwise your teachings will be tainted and you will be corrupted. Basically selling a product.

      • PaladinLostHour

        And that’s absolutely a valid way to go. Another valid approach (from my perspective), is if you see someone walking full tilt towards a big pile of manure, and you like ‘em, and you’d rather they not dirty themselves or (potentially) those associated with them – well, you might raise a ruckus. In the hopes that they’d second guess the path they’re on.

        • reddog53

          If so, that’s a wonderful idea.

          But I get the idea that she didn’t just fall off the turnip truck….

          With all the media attention she’s had over the past 18 months (and before), I think she can figure this out as well.

          • Vegas_Rick

            I’m sure it never occurred to Sarah Palin that the left wing media and Dem oppo researchers would dig into this for dirt.

            I mean, why would they?

        • Vegas_Rick

          for having the foresight to see and avoid said manure withour your assistance. But you seem to be a glass half empty kind of guy.

    • Finrod

      You can bloviate until the cows come home, but that fact remains: you made some very harsh accusations with no facts whatsoever to back them up. And before you start whining that others do the same thing, go look in my posting history, where I sharply criticized people for coming to the conclusion that Google had deliberately blocked an article on biggovernment.com that was hostile to Google without any substantial evidence for that conclusion.

      You’re also not taking into account (which is ironic for someone that says that they’re ‘country’) that Alaska is a very remote area, and as such Things Often Work Differently There. How many PR firms can you name that are based in Alaska? Other than Bristol’s, I’d bet good money that number is zero. Hence, all that experience and knowledge you claim to have regarding PR firms mean for this particular special case, precisely nothing.

      You have no evidence and no knowledge of Alaska. Therefore your conclusions are bunk and you’re coming off like a whiny prat. I’d recommend stopping before you dig your hole even deeper.

  • jayburd

    Some of your apples look like oranges.

  • rbdwiggins

    I suppose you have proof that the start-up money for Bristol Palin’s new PR firm didn’t come from private funds or donations?

    A #1 Best Seller would surely enable a mother to help her children in ways unknown to most of us.

  • Streiff

    1. all that is required to open any lobbying or PR shop is one big client. That’s the way most of them start.

    2. There is no ethical dimension to doing private business with family members. That is what “family owned companies” do.

    3. The assertion that giving your kid a leg up in life is corrupt is just blatant idiocy. If you think Angelina Jolie has talent. other than prehensile lips, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you. By your standards 99% of Hollywood and a substantial slice of American industry is corrupt.

  • Jack_Savage

    That’s funny….heh heh….REALLY funny…

  • makemyday

    http://www.redstate.com/jrichardson/2009/12/31/barbara-boxer-subsidizing-relatives-with-campaign-contributions/

    It appears that when Bab’s Boxer does this it is something to revile. When one of our own does it, it’s ok.

    Now being the capiltalist that I am truth be known, I would do it too. But Sarah is supposed to be squeky clean and now she comes off as someone who we love to hate.

    Art may have a point in what he was telling us about her all along. Like it or not she does live in a glass house.

    • Aaron Gardner

      Sarah Palin didn’t create legislation that funnels tax dollars to her daughter.

      Put the hypocrite card back in your pocket and walk away slowly.

      • makemyday

        I don’t want to start a flame war or participate in one, but the first para in that other diary reads:

        Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has diverted nearly half a million in contributions from her political action committee to her son?s political consulting firm from 2001 to 2009, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings

        Nothing about legislation funneling tax dollars.

        • Aaron Gardner

          You are leaving out context and attributing actions to the Palin’s that haven’t yet occurred.

          As far as my first response, I was thinking of Sen. Feinstein, my apologies.

        • http://www.the41stvote.org rcov092

          because you surely do not have a clue what it is now.

        • Swamp_Yankee

          There is no link between Sarah’s PAC and Bristol’s PR firm. Its all conjecture.

          And there are still dozens of other differences about Bristol. She’s a young woman, not an established professional. The poster made the logic error of stating that she is young and has no experience and couldnt be a professional PR person, then went forth to insinuate that that is misusing funds to be a professional PR person.

          I still wonder if this is not for herself. She’s promoting abstinence, has a nasty child custody case, a loser ex, and her mother is the most famous woman in the country. Perhaps she is setting up a little boutique shop as a young professional to learn the ropes and protect her and Tripp’s interests.

          She’s freaking nineteen.

          • makemyday

            Let me use this reply to all. First off I LIKE Sarah, I think she is just what we need to light a fire. And yes, she has not sent any money towards Bristol’s PR firm, and being a capitalist myself I applaud anyone for getting into a business opportunity with help from a mentor. Nineteen years old and she is a CEO. Heck, I was just learning what to do with girls!

            The point here is Bab’s created this loophole for her own benefit and it is wrong, which is worse, the creation or the use? Sarah hasn’t sent a nickel that way, and I hope she doesn’t. I hope Bristol is very successful and makes a million bucks by the time she is 25, that’s the way it should be.

          • Aaron Gardner

            You can’t make the comparison when the Palin’s haven’t done the same thing.

            Get it?

          • mbecker908

            if she has any. I don’t know.

            This silliness is just beyond the pale. You obviously have no life and when combined with your single digit IQ, the result is way stupid.

            Go elsewhere. I’ll bet LGF would love this.

          • aesthete

            or Palin directs clients to Bristol’s PR firm in exchange for favors, then we’ll talk. Right now, this is conjecture. As Swamp says, how do we know that this isn’t Bristol’s own decision? Looking at Bristol’s actions less charitably, isn’t it also possible that Bristol is striking out on her own and trying to get a buck using her mother’s influence, and that Todd and Sarah aren’t on board with it? There are too many possibilities to hone in on one, and right now, all that we can say is that it’s a developing story.

  • traversecityconservative

    Hey, idiot. Nowhere in the paperwork does it mention Bristol’s name. And even if it IS her, it was filed at the end of September in 2009, before Sarah’s book tour. Hm…sounds like she was probably helping her out with that, IDIOT.

  • http://nanosecondinv.proboards.com/index.cgi? irondiopriest

    No facts are presented to support the conclusions in the original post in any meaningful way. If the original poster is indeed a supporter of Sarah Palin, energy could be better spent by not adding rank speculation about unethical nepotism to the endless lies about the Palins. Leave the unsupported allegations to the Left, and stick to the truth.

  • Martin Knight

    This is the same breed of fratricidal self-righteousness that lost us a Senate seat in Alaska last year and Conrad Burns’ senate seat in MT the cycle before that.

    We all beat our chests when they were indicted, screaming for them to go down to defeat for their heinous crimes and cheering when they did, only for us to discover after they had lost that it was all smoke and no fire.

    The decision by Republicans to punish our own at the first blush without any evidence of wrongdoing – just the appearance of it, often manipulated to look so by partisan prosecutors – has proven to be wholly negative.

    Neither Sarah nor Bristol Palin have done anything wrong. You have no evidence of foul play, just a surfeit of supposition, bad faith and time on your hands.

    • aesthete
  • JadedByPolitics

    is highly suspect. I should think that if I were running a large organization and I could TRAIN my twenty something son’s to do parts of it to help them get a job and TRAINING for LIFE and cash in their pocket for their work I would DO IT!

    I don’t have a problem with this as a mother nor as someone who has donated to her PAC so perhaps you should just NOT give to her PAC then you needn’t worry about where you funds go to OK!

  • Vegas_Rick

    No proof, no links, just supposition. You’d fit in well as part of the MSM.

  • mom2oneson

    to be attacking a teenager girl!!! It makes me so mad.

  • Finrod

    Gee, the fact that Bristol Palin has her own wikipedia page, not just a mention on her mom’s, might mean that she’s sufficiently in the public eye to do public relations on her own. After all, she’s already been a spokeswoman for abstinence on a national level. You’ve got nothing but made-up accusations and presumptions.

    I’d disrecommend this diary if I could.

  • Achance

    https://myalaska.state.ak.us/business/soskb/Corp.asp?384209

    Van Flein is Sarah Palin’s attorney. Beyond that, all I care about is that She’s no longer Governor.

  • bs
  • Leopard1996

    Now I am not fully onboard with Palin being the savior of the conservative movement, but you decided to engage in what is nothing more than a hitjob. Which is an epic effing fail.

  • traversecityconservative

    The person who posted this is a piece of slime just like the rest of the media, stating their opinion as fact. Not to mention, Palin can hire whoever she wants to do her PR and if I were her, I’d have the people closest to me doing the important jobs because the rest of the world is filled with people like you.

  • aesthete

    If what Paladin was alleging had happened and he had proof, it would be a different story, and would show both bad judgement on Palin’s part (to hire someone who isn’t qualified), and a misuse of SarahPAC funds. But as is, this is a non-story, and certainly doesn’t reflect badly on her supporters, as Paladin implied.

  • Streiff

    is correct there is nothing wrong with it. Any agency that fundraises for you gets paid.

    The fact that her daughter owns the company doesn’t mean that funds were misused or even that Bristol is the only person in the company.

  • aesthete

    In my opinion, it shows poor judgement and a poor allocation of funds to hire someone who doesn’t have the requisite experience or ability to do a job, simply because they share some DNA with you.

    As someone in Bristol’s age bracket, I wouldn’t trust a 19-year old to allocate funds and manage a high-profile company unless said 19-year old has indisputably proven that he is better than his prospective (and presumably more experienced) competition. Bristol’s only claim to fame thus far is that of having had a kid with a white-trash boyfriend; while that isn’t deserving of the attacks that she received from the left, it doesn’t engender confidence in her level of maturity.

    That’s my opinion, and judging from the comments on this site concerning Dem nepotism, I would say that it is the opinion of many on this site. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a correctly-held opinion, but it does indicate that, were SarahPAC helping her daughter’s company, a non-trivial amount of people would have a problem with it.