Palin's full speaking contract revealed
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/05/13/art.palin.0505f.gi.jpg caption =" A judge has ordered the contents of Palin's speaking contract with a California school to be made public."](CNN) – So just what does it take to get Sarah Palin to speak at your fundraising gala?
A "deluxe" hotel suite, a first class ticket or a private jet ("Lear 60 or larger"), pre-selected audience questions, and "bendable" straws – not to mention the $75,000 in cash.
That's according to Palin's speaking contract with Cal State Stanislaus – ordered to be released by a California judge this week after the state school refused to make the document public last June.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown began an investigation in April into whether school officials were trying to avoid public disclosure laws by discarding documents. A state senator asked for the probe after he said the school refused to turn over some requested records concerning the event.
The university argued it was not compelled to release the contract because Palin was speaking at a fundraiser for the university's private, non-profit foundation.
But Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne disagreed, saying the foundation ultimately was a branch of a public entity and therefore documents relating to its business must be made public pursuant to public record laws.
"The reasonable inference from the evidence produced is that the university, in its official capacity, has 'used' the contract…in the conduct of the public's business; therefore, said contract is also a public record," Beauchesne wrote in his opinion delivered earlier this week.
Much of the contents of the contract had already been revealed: the school had previously disclosed how much it paid the former Alaska governor and portions of the contract were discovered in a dumpster by students last April.
Still, the document provides a revealing picture of the types of demands an A-list speaker can make, and serves as a reminder that no detail is too small to omit - from the lighting ("should be at a comfortable, but appropriate production level"), to the water ("unopened bottled still"), to the lectern ("no plexiglass or thin lectern please").
The June 25 speech came after months of controversy amid charges the financially-strapped school was paying too much to secure Palin.
But the Alaska governor's speech ultimately brought in record amounts of money for the foundation, and a school spokeswoman called the gala "the most successful fundraiser in the university's history."
From CNN Politics
- Attacks on Manhattan investigation show GOP still can't break from Trump
- 10 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024
- House GOP uses its new power in extraordinary effort to shield Trump from indictment
- Missouri AG seeks to restrict gender-affirming care for minors
- Michael Chertoff acknowledges scope of his Supreme Court security work and outlines leak probe timeline in new letter to Congress
- Feds proceed with caution as potential Trump indictment fuels sporadic calls for violence online
Is anyone really surprised by this? What distrubs me more is that, if Palin had no problem with this or truly didn't think this was egregious, then why didn't she just provide the documentation to avoid a court struggle?
Why would anyone pay to hear this nut job speak? And she is so "green" with her flying demands and I am not even going to comment on the "bendable" straws... Stupid people amaze me; no they repudiate me!
I wonder if the parents of the students being "exposed" to this type of rhetoric approve and if her fee is coming from the already ridiculous tuition? Who decides what kind of brainwashing our students receive along with their normal studies?
I would never pay one red American penny to this despicable woman. What is really sad is that she is saying NOTHING! She gets paid thousands of dollars to spew hate and ignorance! What a cushy career to have! Anybody with a tongue can talk the hate-filled garbage she spews. Talking hate requires no skill. She only says what her hate-filled followers want to hear. She could care less about her followers nor America. Palin is a power hungry, money hungry, idiotic scum bag. While I'm not calling her a Nazi, her rise to fame and power reminds me of Hitler's rise. I'm not afraid of Sarah personally. I'm afraid that her hate-filled speech has the power to whip up and incite more hatred from her followers that will sooner or later lead to tragic violence. It's just a matter of time. For those who don't believe this, read up on the history of the rise of the Nazi's in Germany in the late 1920's.
So what is the big deal. Clinton gets all the associated benefits plus a $200,000 fee for a short 1 hour or less attendance and speech.
Pre-selected questions so that she can prepare and not screw up-as much. We all know how well she does if asked to think on her feet.
If she runs for president how is she going to survive. The media will lambast her if she tries to pull that stunt
Good. Suck the GOP dry before 2012!
This is nothing copmpared to Clinton. Take a look at his.
Interesting how the self-proclaimed friend-of-the-common-people has morphed into a spoiled little princess. It reminds me of those mega-church evangelical preachers. The right-wing continues to be a freak show.
This is why she does it... money, just like Beck and Limbaugh... laughing all the way to the bank
Any schools that are being subsidized by TAX PAYERS should not be allowed to pay this AIR HEAD. Schools could be using that money to provide schoolarships to students who need help the most financially.
Come on CNN-Report that all the Politicos do the SAME thing-Get off this Palin and Bush bashing-EXTREMELY OLD!!!!
So, this is the champion of average working people. A person who doesn't know the first thing about work, and gets paid more for one short speech, the same speech she gives everywhere she goes, than most people in this country get paid in a year. What a joke.
She's just one of us, you betchya.
What exactly qualifies her as an "American Patriot", dianne? Is it the bendable straws or the preseleceted audience questions?
I think people that listen to her should pay her, it is their prerogative. If you work the whole two years in construction or a coal mine, your two years of work are just as important as hearing a bitch speak for 45 minutes. After all, God knows rich Republicans need more money than the rest of us.
Don't forget to also pay the insurance and oil companies extra too, God knows they need your money more than you do too.
I want to, from the deepest recesses of my soul, thank John McCain for putting this woman in the National Spotlight. Thank you John McCain for putting our country at risk by choosing this intellectually bankrupt, ironically "Patriotic" yet espoused to a separatist and frequent abuser of engish diction. There is no doubt that you had "Country First" in mind when selecting this one.
Really Sarah?? Lear 60 or larger? $70K to "speak". You claim to represent "Real Americans".....YOU HAVE FOOLED SO MANY
Please Run in 2012.
Is anyone really surprised by the Half Gov. Palin's gall? Even specifying the minimum size of the private jet. She has the republicans snowed for sure. They are so infatuated with the half Gov. that they can't see any of the Truth. Also the fact that she'll only answer preselected questions isn't a surprise either, we all what happens when she's asked real questions. Half Gov. Palin is nothing more than a GOP speech whore who is divided our great country by leading the blind sheep republicans to slaughter. I am a little surprised that her contract didn't also include her menu and wine list though, also.
Vote NO in NOvember to the party of NO.
This is nothing compared to how much money the Koch brothers are funneling her way!
The trustees of the college should be fired. WHY would a higher education STATE-funded institution hire an idiot to speak to the students. And WHY would they accede to such outrageous demands?
Why does anyone still continue to support this person? I wonder how many of them do so out of blind hatred for President Obama. To those persons I have some advice… Anger, fear and hatred are no substitute for logic and reason.
I cant see paying her anything but to shut up.
Why are some people so interested in what she has to say, shes not the brightest star in the sky. Well what can we expect we voted Bush for resident!!!! Next we'll vote Gomer pyle for president.
Of course she has to have a selected audience and pre screened questions because she is a moron. Ask her about anything substantive and she can't answer, like who is her favorite founding father-"all of them" answers the Queen of Dumb. Nothing in this article is a surprise.
I wish she would just go away-fly away to one of the Poles in her Lear Jet and stay there.