Sarah Palin's PAC Drained By Her Lavish Spending, Expensive Tastes

As Sarah Palin makes her return to the campaign trail to champion Republican candidate Donald Trump, her political action committee has nearly exhausted its reserves, with funds at their lowest level since it was launched, a Center for Public Integrity report published Thursday revealed.

Although SarahPAC had $380,000 left as of Dec. 31, 2015, Palin's PAC's spending has outpaced what it has been able to raise due to the former Alaska governor's predilection for luxury travel and top-dollar consultants. In 2015, SarahPAC brought in $950,000, but spent $1.4 million, according to Al Jazeera.

Some of her expenditures included $230,250 for consultants, $80,500 of which went to longtime aide and PAC treasurer Timothy Crawford. Another $83,213 went to travel and accommodations, such as the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, which ran Palin $4,562.

PACs often use funds to support other candidates that the politician has endorsed, but SarahPAC did not give funds to any conservative campaigns in the second half of 2015. The PAC allocated $25,000 — less than 4 percent of its total expenditures — toward candidates in the first half of 2015. Palin herself has not run for any office since she ran for vice president in 2008.

Emails from the political action committee tell donors the funds are for causes such as the "fight against liberals like Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders" and to "defund and investigate Planned Parenthood," according to the Center for Public Integrity.

“Congress can squash a bad Iran deal and it’s time to let them know how you feel!” a SarahPAC email said on July 14. “Donate $15 so we can use our influence to stop this bad deal! … Donate now to crush this BAD IRAN DEAL!”