Alaska Republican Gets Sweetheart Deal on eBay Jet After Donating to Alaska Speaker Harris (R) Campaign
After doing a little investigation I've come up with the following info on the jet and its buyer and the connection to Alaska Republicans:
The jet, tail number: N328SA was bought by a Larry Reynolds..
Reynolds didn't give to Palin's campaign but it looks like his wife (occupation listed as "housewife") in turn gave $1000.00 to John L. Harris in the 2006 General election.
It turns out for those of us in the lower 48 who don't know who HE is, that Harris is the Republican Alaska State Legislature Speaker of the House and he in turn hooked up Reynolds with Governor Palin to do the sweetheart jet deal (apparently at a loss to the State of Alaska)
http://community.adn.com/node/109650 (News story on how Reynolds used Harris to get the jet)
The campaign contribution:
https://webapp.state.ak.us/apoc/contributions.jsp?name=...
In a common trick used to throw people off in campaign contribution research, the report included a "harmless typo" and it should actually be JANICE REYNOLDS as his BOAT registration shows the name of his boat is the JANICE RUTH II.
http://www.boatinfoworld.com/registration.asp?vn=319176
The FAA aircraft registration:
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNu...
http://aprn.org/2007/08/24/larry-reynolds-valdezs-great... /
FAA Registry
N-Number Inquiry Results
N328SA is Assigned
Aircraft Description
Serial Number 425 Type Registration Individual
Manufacturer Name ISRAEL AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES Certificate Issue Date 09/13/2007
Model 1124A Status Valid
Type Aircraft Fixed Wing Multi-Engine Type Engine Turbo-Fan
Pending Number Change None Dealer No
Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code 50706631
MFR Year 1984 Fractional Owner NO
Registered Owner
Name REYNOLDS LARRY
Street PO BOX 750
City VALDEZ State ALASKA Zip Code 99686-0750
County VALDEZ-CORDOVA
Country UNITED STATES
Airworthiness
Engine Manufacturer GARRETT Classification Standard
Engine Model TFE 731 SER Category Transport
A/W Date 06/19/1985
The jet, tail number: N328SA was bought by a Larry Reynolds..
Reynolds didn't give to Palin's campaign but it looks like his wife (occupation listed as "housewife") in turn gave $1000.00 to John L. Harris in the 2006 General election.
It turns out for those of us in the lower 48 who don't know who HE is, that Harris is the Republican Alaska State Legislature Speaker of the House and he in turn hooked up Reynolds with Governor Palin to do the sweetheart jet deal (apparently at a loss to the State of Alaska)
http://community.adn.com/node/109650 (News story on how Reynolds used Harris to get the jet)
The campaign contribution:
https://webapp.state.ak.us/apoc/contributions.jsp?name=...
In a common trick used to throw people off in campaign contribution research, the report included a "harmless typo" and it should actually be JANICE REYNOLDS as his BOAT registration shows the name of his boat is the JANICE RUTH II.
http://www.boatinfoworld.com/registration.asp?vn=319176
The FAA aircraft registration:
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNu...
http://aprn.org/2007/08/24/larry-reynolds-valdezs-great... /
FAA Registry
N-Number Inquiry Results
N328SA is Assigned
Aircraft Description
Serial Number 425 Type Registration Individual
Manufacturer Name ISRAEL AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES Certificate Issue Date 09/13/2007
Model 1124A Status Valid
Type Aircraft Fixed Wing Multi-Engine Type Engine Turbo-Fan
Pending Number Change None Dealer No
Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code 50706631
MFR Year 1984 Fractional Owner NO
Registered Owner
Name REYNOLDS LARRY
Street PO BOX 750
City VALDEZ State ALASKA Zip Code 99686-0750
County VALDEZ-CORDOVA
Country UNITED STATES
Airworthiness
Engine Manufacturer GARRETT Classification Standard
Engine Model TFE 731 SER Category Transport
A/W Date 06/19/1985
she had it listed on ebay for several months and then a broker handled the deal.
and it was sold at a loss of a few hundred thousand dollars, but it likely saved Alaska a lot in the long run.
and no in spite of this there are many other reasons why I don't respect Palin but this is not one of them.
The only cost is parked is maintenance, insurance and annual (or 100 hour) inspection which would have been in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Doug D.