Governor Grifter TV

When Alaska Senator Johnny Ellis introduced a bill to subsidize film and television production in Alaska, no one thought then Sarah Palin could be a recipient. On June4, 2008 she signed the film subsidy into law. I wonder if producer Mark Burnett of Survivor fame has been offered such a deal.

The Anchorage Press reported this week:

Initial reports last week said Palin's appearance fee for a soft-documentary TV show featuring Alaska stories could be between $1 million and $1.5 million, per episode. Zoinks!

It's not quite as expensive as it sounds. The state of Alaska's film subsidy program would allow Burnett, or anyone who hires an Alaska resident as a talking head, to get back 40 percent of those wages, or $400,000. Production companies that shoot between October and March qualify for an additional two percent, and there's a two-percent rural shooting bonus. So if a company pays an Alaska politician--or an Alaska fifth grader--$1 million to travel to Barrow and chatter in front of cameras about the first sunrise of 2011 next January, the production can qualify for $442,000 in state tax credits. Hedges the bet a just little, eh?

It boggles the mind when you think how Alaska has been used as Sarah Palin's personal ATM.

 

Follow Shannyn Moore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/shannynmoore

Comments

[MDhome]

09:36 PM on 05/03/2010

Is the discovery channel in the climate change deniers now? what next holocaust deniers on discovery I suppose.

[Manata]

05:32 PM on 03/30/2010

Please sign the petition urging Discovery Communications to drop Sarah Palin's new show from their lineup. Your voice can make a powerful difference for our wildlife and wild places.

https://secure.defenders.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=1723&s_src=3WDW10064SXPA&s_subsrc=hp1dow

[Bloviator88]

04:55 PM on 03/29/2010

Alaskans must like to support her. They're still doing it. Which, frankly, says A LOT about Alaskans.

[sippewissett]

07:06 PM on 04/04/2010

Where did you get this impression? Her popularity plummeted after the '09 handout from the Alaskan Permanent Fund plunged and never recouped. If you want a view of Alaskans' attitudes towards Palin, just visit the postings on www.adn.com, their largest newspaper. Alaskans know grifters as much as the lower 48. Their problem is that with a population of only 700K people in the whole state, it's harder to find an honest politician.

[TRYKER]

02:18 PM on 03/29/2010

So this is how she "can do more for AK while out of office"...by taking AK money to subsidize her production, so her production will be half price, but she will take $1 million?
Wow, a champion grifter!
Discovery Channel is going to see a lot of bad reactions to this grande mistake. I'm joining the boycott.

[Carolyn LeBeauf]

11:45 AM on 03/29/2010

Palin is kicking Alaska in the butt and alughing all the way to the bank. Her next project I predict ,she will stumping the land scape of the country on behalf of JD Hayworth, if the bucks are big enough.

[redsongia]

10:05 AM on 03/29/2010

How do Alaskan state tax credits benefit the producers of a show that are not Alaska residents? Do they get to file taxes in Alaska just to recieve the credit?

I'm asking, because I honestly don't know.

[nicole473]

11:14 AM on 03/29/2010

If you do business in a state, you pay taxes. This is a tax credit on the taxes they will owe. A pity it benefits the shrew. They could have asked any number of people who would have done a more credible job, such as Jeanne at Mudflats or Shannyn Moore.

[mapmaker515]

08:22 AM on 03/29/2010

Palin note to palm: Get Discovery to list Baby Trigg as "executive producer".

[nicole473]

11:15 AM on 03/29/2010

HA! :)

[Pippen]

08:03 AM on 03/29/2010

Discovery Channel is on boycot at my house and my family's.

[nicole473]

11:15 AM on 03/29/2010

I am also boycotting them.

[angiemomma]

11:25 AM on 03/29/2010

Our house too! For a channel that's supposed to represent nature and environmental issues, to choose someone with her dismal environmental record defies all logic.

[sippewissett]

07:09 PM on 04/04/2010

The show isn't on the Discovery Channel. It's on TLC, owned by the Discovery parent company, BUT home of sophmoric realtiy shows like Kate & 8, Little People, Big World and Cake Boss. Cheesy shows; cheesy new host. She's in the right milieu.

[rich3324]

07:35 AM on 03/29/2010

Palin having a show on TLC is like Tiger Woods being a host on the View.

[cheeriogirl]

03:51 AM on 03/29/2010

Funny thing is, I don't recall hearing, Get your film subsidy out of my mini series!

[HuffyAmy]

09:36 PM on 05/02/2010

Surely she will be saying thanks, but no thanks, to any government subsidy?

[blinkthink]

10:07 PM on 03/28/2010

The Alaskan Production should be 'The Two Faces of Palin'. The first one would be fiscally conservative and the second would be the one using Alaska as her ATM. Maybe they could do an episode on the fine art of getting medical care in Canada.

[momcat54]

10:06 PM on 03/28/2010

The scary thing is , she is proud of her ignorance. She re vals in her power to whip up other ignorant right wing nuts and is having a wonderufl time doing it. I get alittle sick tomy stomach every time I see her slick smile and latest do on the tube, Levi was right though ,she was just waiting to resign and make money.

[gsmp]

06:46 PM on 03/28/2010

In 2005, my sister, a long time Alaskan, needed life threating surgery. I spent 2 weeks helping her get through it. I didn't get to see much of the state, but what I did see was beyond breathtaking. When sp was elected, my sister packed up her son and her truck and headed for the lower 48. Smart sister.

[Mor-a-Les]

10:00 PM on 03/28/2010

Please sign petition to boycott Sarah Palin's show on the discovery channel http://www.thepetitionsite.com/21/boycott-the-discovery-channel-networks

[gsmp]

10:44 PM on 03/28/2010

Thanks for reminding me. Done. Fanned.

[dowl]

05:39 PM on 03/28/2010

The great things that Ms. Palin wants to do to 'progress' Alaska are apparently only meant to make money for herself and her posse. Perhaps with the bigger bank account, she'll spend more in Alaska and the state will make a little with the production crews who will have to spend money to film Sarah's Alaska.

Maybe, just maybe, Alaskans will break even? What a sweetheart for benefiting from this sweetheart dill for the Sarah Palin brand. It seems that the Alaskan Independence Party is happy with this too.

Lord have mercy on us all.

[ramblin jack]

05:27 PM on 03/28/2010

as much as I dislike this woman we should wait and see as it may in some way show some good sites and views of Alaska.

[mapmaker515]

08:16 AM on 03/29/2010

In my best Scooby-Doo voice, "Huuuuuh?"

[nicole473]

11:16 AM on 03/29/2010

Oh, please............