http://www.themudflats.net/2009/05/18/palin-backer-wanted-to-pay-the-clintons-to-be-friends-with-sarah/John Coale, husband of Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, who is oddly bipartisan and likes getting to know powerful female politicians and promoting their careers in a way that borders on the creepy, tried to be a matchmaker to the stars. He figured if Sarah Palin used the legally allowed $5000 from her PAC money to pay off some of Hillary Clinton’s campaign debt, then Democrats and Independents would like her more, and wouldn’t pick on her so much. Apparently, after he sobered up and still thought it was a good idea, he came to Alaska with his wife to see Todd Palin in the Iron Dog race, and asked Sarah Palin to become BFFs with Hillary on Valentine’s Day. Aww. Insanity can be so adorable.
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Palin camp eyed Clinton alliance
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22681.html(snip)
She expressed concern to aides about Coale’s request that weekend and a few days later directed Meg Stapleton, an Alaska-based campaign aide, to tell Coale that she would not help retire Clinton’s debt.
“While we appreciate your efforts and recognize that a friendship with the Clintons is appropriate, the governor believes (and I concur) that using SarahPAC to pay down Hillary’s debt is not a prudent use of the money,” Stapleton wrote to Coale in a Feb. 17 e-mail, a few days after he made his pitch to the governor. “Contributors who chose between heating their homes and sending in a contribution because they believe in Sarah would be crushed.”
But GOP sources say that in conference calls and e-mails with Palin advisers over subsequent weeks, Coale continued to raise the prospect of using SarahPAC to help Clinton, who was once public enemy No. 1 among the very Republicans who are Palin’s most ardent followers.
“He thought the Clintons could rein in some of the Democratic firepower aimed at her,” said a dumbfounded Republican privy to the discussion who advocated fiercely against the idea. --------------
GVS responds
http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2009/05/15/the-deep-end/PAC’s can only contribute $5000. $5,000 is not going to retire an entire multi million dollar campaign debt.
And no, my husband is not employed by Governor Palin, her PAC, Secretary of State Clinton, her PAC, or anyone else. Yes, he has helped candidates on both side of the aisle.
—– note: update May 19: yes, he has suggested that women candidates help each other, including a gesture of contributing AFTER the election is over to debt retirement but not paying the entire debt. Paying all a campaign debt (more than 5k) is a completely different thing from a less than 5 k contribution – more than 5k is against the law. A gesture of a legal contribution (less than 5k) would help tone done all the fighting in politics and is legal. Big difference between legal and illegal (paying more than 5k to retire a debt from a PAC.) A less than 5k contribution is a simple gesture by one candidate PAC to another and a gesture showing unity of Americans, not division, in hope that people can learn to work together even if different parties and different ideas. My husband’s view is that we should all be talking like Former Pres Reagan (repub) and Former Speaker of the House O’Neil (dem)