Palin Tanning Bed Installed In Governor's Mansion

Al Giordano of Narco News first reported that Sarah Palin has a tanning bed installed in the Alaska Governor's Mansion:

"The governor did have a tanning bed put in the Governor's Mansion," Roger Wetherell, chief communications officer of Alaska's Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, confirmed to this newspaper. "It was done shortly after she took office [in early 2007] and moved into the mansion."

Ben Smith of the Politico confirmed the report.

"She paid for it with her own money," Wetherell told Smith in an email.

UPDATE: US Weekly has more:

According to Wetherell, the tanning bed was purchased used, from a health club.

Tanning beds can cost up to $35,000 to install in a home - not including the cost of parts, Color Me Tan manager Erin Weise told the Narco News.

"I don't think it's normal for people to have a tanning bed in their house, " Wiese, who is based in Fairbanks said. "It's expensive."

Palin's running mate, presidential candidate John McCain battled skin cancer in 1993, and again in 2000.

"I coat SPF 30 on myself first thing in the morning, and wear long sleeves and a hat whenever I'm in the sun," McCain has told Newsweek.

Palin declared May 2007, "Skin Cancer Awareness Month." In the press materials it was noted, "Skin cancer is caused, overwhelmingly, by over-exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from tanning beds."

Comments

[jumpingjellybean]

02:23 AM on 09/26/2008

OMG... if we are gonna talk about her purchase/u­se of a tanning bed, lets have a feature story on Joe Biden and how much he paid for that terrible hair transplant­: or Nancy P's face lift... now now, lets be fair

[sunbedsdirect]

09:13 AM on 09/23/2008

They stated she bought it used from a gym. That would not cost $35,000 under any circumstan­ce and the photo of the bed is stock footage. What he didnt say is that a used bed can cost $800.00 and is well within her budget

I sell beds for a g to homeowners all the time and they love the 20 min break from stress. A tanning bed is'nt in conflict with her kids, family or job.

[paco833]

01:43 AM on 09/18/2008

ahhh...knu­mbskulls..­.lots of people in AK use tanning beds and salons - cause of the light deprivatio­n thing...du­h, you dopes.

[lungfish]

12:29 PM on 09/18/2008

got a link or are you just stating an opinion...­..? My mother and sister live in AK as I did for years and I can only recall one place that had a tanning bed and that was a healthclub in Anchorage.­... I never met anyone that had a tanning bed to cope with low light.... You can buy lighting systems for under 300bucks to cope with biological light-rela­ted issues and most doctors know that....

knumbskull­....

[Iluvbush3]

02:37 PM on 09/17/2008

Let's get a shot of her tanning lines.

[MollieinATL]

12:55 PM on 09/17/2008

Hmmm... McCain has fought Melanoma and Palin is pro-Melano­ma.

Sounds as if they need to cancer awareness to her tutoring..­.

[shaaronie]

11:56 AM on 09/17/2008

Buying a tanning bed is ok, if you can afford it. But the revelation that she uses it for depression is rather revealing. A tanning bed can not reduce depression­. Just tell us that you wanted one. But this lie is another in a ridiculous series of lie. Oh the pain/palin

[GrkAm]

12:26 AM on 09/17/2008

The inequity of all of this with mud slinging and half truths during the Pres. campaign is mind boggling. It's hard to to NOT become angry or sarcastic for venting this political season, because of what is at stake for our nation and the future of our children and our children's children.

Today, Sarah Palin stated that the $35,000 tanning bed was to help with depression especially with the long winters in Alaska. SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is common in areas with long winters and short days. Americans living in the lower 48 and close to the Canadian border know that during late fall/winte­r the sun sets and stars twinkle as early as 4:00 p.m. (can't speak for Canadians)­. Light boxes are common in the northern tier of states. Many can be found in offices near a worker's desk.

A light box to effectivel­y treat SAD needs to be full sprectum lights with 10,000 LUX units and can be effective. Usage is built up gradually to 30 - 34 minutes. LUX lights that range at 2,500 LUX usage is two hours a day, MINIMUM.

Admittedly­, knowing very little about tanning beds, I researched them to find that they are 2,500 LUX units with a maximum exposure per individual tanning of 15 minutes.

What an expensive purchase for something that really isn't effective for SAD. If that is the case, why not spend $2,000 for light box that WOULD be effective? Is THIS transparen­cy?

[folksonomy]

11:48 PM on 09/16/2008

This is a sleeper story. Next window please.

[PaulZ]

10:31 PM on 09/16/2008

That does it, I'm voting for the Dark Jimmy Carter.

[fistbump]

09:40 PM on 09/16/2008

Us Magazine has picked up the story.

http://www­.usmagazin­e.com/news­/sarah-pal­in-install­ed-a-tanni­ng-bed-at-­the-govern­ors-mansio­n

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

08:54 PM on 09/16/2008

OK. There is SO much informatio­n we need to get out there for the (un f ing be lievable) undecided vot ers to read......­...WHY is precious space and time being wasted on whether or not cari bou bar bi had a tanning bed installed at HER OWN EXPENSE?

This is a stup id story.

[progressivegrannie]

08:09 PM on 09/16/2008

According to the Mayo Clinic a person with seasonal affective disorder uses a special light not a tanning bed. To whit: "in light therapy, you sit with your eyes open in front of a light box — a small, portable device that contains fluorescen­t bulbs or tubes. The light box emits a type and intensity of light that isn't found in normal household lighting, so simply sitting in front of a lamp in your living room won't relieve the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. Light therapy mimics outdoor light and causes a biochemica­l change in your brain that lifts your mood, relieving symptoms of seasonal affective disorder."

[Brute]

07:59 PM on 09/16/2008

OBAMA TRIED TO STALL GIS' IRAQ WITHDRAWAL

WHILE campaignin­g in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

WOW!!!!!!

"The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediatel­y begin to remove our combat troops," Obama said last year at a university in Iowa. "Not in six months or one year – now."

[Graywolf48]

07:53 PM on 09/16/2008

So what? She paid for it on her own. Alaska spends a lot of time without seeing the sun. This is really a non-issue and a petty waste of time. There are many things to go after Palin for, but this is not one of them. It falls right in there with wearing flag pins in importance­.

[me1]

07:53 PM on 09/16/2008

And Clinton installed something in an intern.