Wardrobe Accounting
The numbers don’t quite seem to add up on the $150,000 Palin Family Shopping Spree:
Consider also the $4,902.45 charge at Atelier New York, a high-end men’s store, presumably for Ms. Palin’s husband, Todd, the famous First Dude.
Karlo Steel, an owner there, said he had gone through the store’s receipts for September, twice, and found no sales that matched that amount, nor any combination of sales that added up to the total. Because the store carries aggressively directional men’s wear, he caters to a small clientèle and knows most of his customers by name, as well as the history of their purchases. [...] “We have no recollection of that sale and no idea what they are talking about,” Mr. Steel said.
There was similar confusion when The Caucus spoke with Jon and Wing Witthuhn, owners of Pacifier, a high-end children’s boutique in Minneapolis, where records show two charges of $98, one at Pacifier’s downtown location and another at its store in the northeast part of the city. [...] Mr. Witthuhn clearly recalled one of the $98 charges [...] But as for the other $98 charge, both Mr. Witthuhn and his wife, Wing, were stumped. After going through their receipts, Mrs. Witthuhn found another $98 purchased on Sept. 9 but it was for clothing for a 2-year-old — the Palins do not have a 2-year-old.
Very strange.
42 Responses to “Wardrobe Accounting”
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October 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Embezzlement. Perfect metaphor for the GOP. Break a few laws and don’t forget to keep a taste for yourself.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
“Aggressively directional?” I guess that means they cater to…..straight guys?
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
“Oh yeah, we were Christmas shoppin’, don’tchaknow. I just love Christmas and baby Jesus and stuff.”
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Strange? This woman has made an apparent career out of getting other people to pay for her stuff — her house, per diem payments to stay in said house, taxpayer money to drag her kids off to NY, etc.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
My wife, who used to work as a sales manager selling upscale jewelry to fancy department stores, mentioned yesterday that she thought there could be money laundering going one here, converting campaign money to other uses. I thought she was just being snide…
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
She will have a 2-yr-old in 18 months. Perhaps planning ahead?
Seriously, though, looks like Larson may have put a service charge onto the shopping bill.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I’ll reserve judgment, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were embezzling. The per diem thing and the trips-for-the-kids thing all point to a family that has no problem fudging the books so they don’t actually have to pay for stuff. Why should they treat the RNC any different?
I hope the press keeps digging.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:21 pm
This is probably the explanation for the ‘underlying tension’ some saw in the Brian Williams interview last night:
Palin had heard the news reports that she had received $150,000 worth of clothes— and she’s thinking “WTF, I only got $50,000 worth?!”, while McCain hadn’t known that the RNC had spent any money on clothes for her………………
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Perhaps the $4,902.45 wasn’t all spent in one trip? if they went to that store three times and the purchases totaled that amount, could that explain it?
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Here’s your story: Jeff Larson, GOP bagman extraordinaire, was given the most sensitive assignment of the entire campaign: Buy a new tension-easing wardrobe for John McCain, the highest-ranking cross-dresser since J Edgar Hoover.
But how to fly under the radar of an increasingly hostile press, no longer so willing to avert its gaze when McCain felt the need to indulge in something frilly? Simple – claim it all for Sarah, a greedy naif with the clothes sense of an Iditarod musher!
Somebody needs to check the sizes on those dresses.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
The best take I’ve heard:
“Politics is hard! Let’s go shopping.”
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
It is the vig for Mr. Larson, the buyer/robocaller/apartment provider. He must have bought them on his credit card then billed the campaign. You don’t think he will do this for nothing, do you? That would be Un-American, unpatriotic even, and we know Republicans can never, ever be that.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Maybe there’s another store with that same name?
Anyway, it’s great to see that the NYT has the reporterpower to go after this, while ignoring things like this.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
9: “nor any combination of sales that added up to the total”
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Aggressively directional menswear: Down bombers and blazers!
I kill me.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:01 pm
ignoring things like this.
ah Newsmax… where facts fear to tread
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Directional means something like extremely cutting-edge, fashion forward young hip styles, pointing to where fashion is going in the next few years, etc. Not exactly a look associated with the First Dude.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
The store has <a href=”http://www.ateliernewyork.com/”a Web site so you can get an idea of the up-and-coming uber-hip street fashion stuff they carry…
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Um … 24Ahead?
You, like NewsMax, are “not aware of all Internet traditions.”
Are you wingnuts always this clinically stupid, or is it just on the Internet?
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
If they steal the money of their own polical campaing, imagine the theievery that’s being going on in Iraq… that is why they want to stay there forever.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
The Atelier line item is discussed here.
But like I said elsethread, when it’s a reimbursement to Norm Colebag’s discount landlord, you have to wonder if there’s padding.
Wingnut welfare: fine for book deals, causes problems at high-end boutiques.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:33 pm
The words “slush” and “fund” are the ones that spring to mind. McCain’s campaign is cash-poor. The RNC has money but is restricted in how they spend it. And rats don’t fuck themselves for free.
Maybe I’m too cynical, though. Maybe someone just took a hike with the money and fudged the books. Wouldn’t be the first time.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:10 pm
That’s odd. Whenever I link to articles like this, the standard sockpuppet response is an ad hom against Newsmax instead of any attempt to discuss the substance of their claims, find contrary evidence, etc. Plus, you add in the fact that the author has contacted the BHO campaign in the past for a statement, but on his latest they haven’t responded. And, you add in the fact that the BHO campaign hasn’t put out a press release regarding his allegations. Why, it’s almost like the sockpuppets are really, really scared.
As for Washington Monthly, what you read there is probably full of holes but you’d never know it since they delete comments that point out problems with their articles.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Drugs?
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Why, it’s almost like the sockpuppets are really, really scared.
Why, it’s almost like no-one follows any links you post, Kelly, because they don’t want to add a brass penny to your Google Ads revenue. And we also know how much it upsets you when people decide that blogwhoring has tipped over to outright spamming. Hits you right in the nativist wallet, it does.
Who’d have thought that when you get a reputation for stinking of horseshit, people tend not to want to get close to you?
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Why, it’s almost like the sockpuppets are really, really scared.
scared? no. it’s called “not so much as giving the stupid fucker the time of day”.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:44 pm
It’s possible that she’s using the money to buy things for her friends in Alaska- maybe one of them has a two year old.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Palin IS a 2-year-old.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Maybe that was the value of the clothes she SHOPLIFTED in preparation for the degree of theft she intends to employ if elected.
Maybe her buyer is Winona Ryder (doubtful, Noni is not a Republican.)
October 24th, 2008 at 6:37 am
In case you haven’t see it yet: Hockey mom goes to town! See this great cartoon at the Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3 blog…
December 16th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
The gang is back for
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