McCain claims Palin sold that plane on Ebay for a profit.. but it was $600 K loss

[Motown_Johnny]

Both CNN and MSNBC have stated that McCain's claim today is false. He said "She sold it on Ebay, and made a profit"


CNN is reporting the plane was purchased for 2.7 Million and sold for 2.1 Million. Ir was also not sold on Ebay, it was listed there and did not sell so they sold it through a broker. I don't know about the broker's fee. I assume the loss was more than the 600 K difference in price but I can't speak directly to that point at the moment.


So, McCain seems to think a six hundred thousand dollar loss is a profit. Any chance this might get worked in as a talking point on his economic plan or his tax policy?

[Gabi Hayes]

1. it's how much they made when they sold their $12 million house in 2006.

what's a half a million here, a million there?

pocket change when you don't have any idea how many houses you own, and your wife wears jewelry that costs MUCH more than the median value of an American house

[Gabi Hayes]

2. ooops. they only got 4. the buyer tried to turn it around the same year for 12:

http://www.citizensugar.com/1814071

but, then, what's a paltry 8 mil when you're worth well over a hundred? lord knows how much they're actually worth, given the Budweiser buyout

[theoldman]

3. A broker gets at least 10% on things like this.

It's not like selling a house because the market for airplanes is much smaller.

[Motown_Johnny]

4. If true you can add another 200K on top of that.. so an 800+ K loss

and it is still being portrayed as a profit.... how sad is that?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

5. It will be a talking point on Letterman and Leno

Which is OK. I was reading four years ago that late night comics are incredibly influential in the thinking of young voters.

[oldgrowth]

6. Republican speaker of the Alaska House, John L. Harris, brokered the deal

Plane Not Sold on eBay

Updated 7:10 p.m.

By Anne E. Kornblut

One of the compelling anecdotes about Sarah Palin is that she auctioned off the Alaska governor's jet on eBay after taking office -- a swift move made by a reformer hoping to clean up the excesses of her predecessor.

But in fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the jet, shy of the original $2.7 million purchase price, according to contemporaneous news reports, including a story in the New York Times.

Dan Spencer, the director of administrative services for Alaska's Public Safety Department, said that the Republican speaker of the Alaska House, John L. Harris, brokered the deal. Reynolds made campaign contributions to both Palin and Harris in 2006 and 2007.

What happened? It appears that, as promised during her bid for governor in 2006, Palin did try to sell the plane on eBay but that doing so was not as easy as it might have sounded. After putting it up to auction, there was one serious bid, in December 2006, and it fell through. Still, the Westwind II was sold about eight months later, achieving Palin's goal of ridding the state of a luxury item.

But that hasn't stopped Palin, or John McCain, from implying -- and, on Friday, claiming outright -- that Palin did sell the jet on the Internet.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/05/plane_not_sold_on_ebay.html