From the Esquire interview, another quote from Sarah Palin:
"My favorite place in Alaska is on a cold winter day in my own house, with fat snowflakes falling. In my nice warm home."
The Palin family home is a two-storey, 3,450-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath, wood house situated on Lake Lucille. According to Palin’s income tax returns, the house was assessed at more than half a million dollars — $552,000 to be exact.
Todd Palin told Fox News that he built the 3,450 square-foot, half million dollar home himself with the help of some “buddies.” Coincidentally, at the same time that Todd and his “buddies” were building the Palin house, the $12.5 million dollar Wasilla sports complex and hockey rink was under construction right down the road.
The architect who was awarded the $12.5 million sports complex, Blase Burkhart, is the son of Roy Burkhart, who is frequently described as a "mentor" of Palin and was head of the local Republican Party (his wife, June, who also advised Palin, is the national committee woman). Asked if the contract was a favour, Roy Burkhart said "I really don't know." Palin then named Blase Burkhart to a seven-member builder-selection committee that picked Howdie Inc., a mostly residential contractor owned at the time by Howard Nugent. Formally awarded the contract a couple of weeks after Palin left office, Nugent has donated $4,000 to Palin campaigns. Yet another coincidence is the fact that several of the subcontractors on the sports complex - including Spenard Builders Supply - were also contributors to Palin’s campaign. Spenard happen to be one of the sponsors of Todd Palin in the Iron Dog races.
In addition to being a sponsor of Todd Palin's snow-machine team that has earned tens of thousands for the Palin family, Spenard hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004.. When the Palins began building a new family home off Lake Lucille in 2002—at the same time that Palin was running for lieutenant governor and in her final months as mayor—Spenard supplied the materials, according to Antoine Bricks, who works in its Wasilla office. If the Spenard name sounds familiar, that’s because they are one of the contractors that worked on Senator Ted Stevens house. Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens was indicted for accepting $250,000 worth of free renovations to his house from oil pipeline company VECO. Stevens lost his seat in the Senate to Mark Beguich before the Senate could throw him out after he was found guilty.
Someone who visited the complex said it resembled "a huge airplane hangar" so far away from the city's center that kids can't bike or walk there. It's adorned by a plaque commemorating Sarah Palin. Even as a governor, she is still such a champion of the sports complex—which loses money every year—that she steered state funding for a new kitchen to it.
Todd Palin appears to have so many talents! On top of being the First Dude, he is a four time champion of the Iron Dog race, was production supervisor for BP in the North Slope, left that position to become a house-husband, returned seven months later as a production operator (because they needed the money to send the kids to college*), runs a commercial salmon fishing business in Bristol Bay and when he finds the time, he builds houses with his "buddies"!
Since Sarah Palin blocked an effort to require the filing of building permits as mayor of Wasilla, there is no record of who Todd’s “buddies” were.
Perhaps the same people who found out all about Ted Stevens could do a bit of research and name these excellent "buddies". Just out of curiosity, of course!
(* Track and Bristol???)
[for a complete profile of the Governor, read The Book of Sarah.]
.