Friday, July 15, 2011

PAC PAYS FOR FAMILY VACATION


Sarah Palin’s political action committee spent tens of thousands of dollars paying for her “One Nation” East Coast bus tour. The former governor of Alaska repeatedly called the trip a family vacation. The question is, if it is just a “family vacation,” should it have been paid for by a PAC?

Former presidential candidate Dr. Carl Perrin, for one, sees nothing wrong with the committee paying for Palin’s family vacation. He admits, somewhat ruefully, that he wishes he had come up with the idea himself. The two former candidates have a lot in common. Like the former governor, the retired English professor has not yet formally announced his candidacy for the office of president. Nor has either one of them definitely declined to be considered in the race.

What is obviously behind Perrin’s sentiment on the issue is the thought that if a PAC can pay for Sarah’s vacation, why can’t a PAC for the little trip that Carl has in mind? At the end of this month Carl will be going to North Carolina. It is not strictly a political trip. The Perrin family will be holding a reunion at the time. As Palin did in her “family vacation,” Perrin will probably be saying some political things at the event, mostly grumbling about how the Republicans are ruining the country. So why can’t Perrin use PAC money to finance his “family vacation”?

The problem Perrin has is that he doesn’t have a political action committee. One of the many things that people love about the former professor is that he is not a professional politician. So he doesn’t think about little things like fund raising. However, he is going to start a PAC right now, and use some of its funds to pay for his trip. You can contribute. Just send some money to Perrin’s Pay Pal account. Right now the retiree is worried about what will happen if he doesn’t get his Social Security check on August 3. Your contribution to the Perrin PAC will bring him some peace of mind.