World News Korner

City of Wasillla attempts to sell the "Mayor Mobile," Sarah Palin's vehicle while she was mayor of the city, on E-bay. Any takers?

Photo courtesy of the City of Wasilla website.

Courtesy of the Frontiersman:

Would you pay the Kelley Blue Book value of $2,318 for a 1999 Ford Expedition in excellent condition? If it had fewer than 75,000 miles, would you pay more? How much would that sport utility vehicle be worth if you knew it had been driven by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin?

The city of Wasilla hopes the answer to that last question is at least $10,000. That’s the minimum bid the city has set in an eBay.com ad for the city vehicle Palin drove while she was Wasilla mayor. The 5.4-liter Expedition XLT model, gold in color, was purchased new in 1999 and was Palin’s official vehicle until she left office in 2002.

Cashing in on Palin’s cachet is absolutely the idea behind the online ad, Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright said.

“This was her mayor-mobile,” Rupright said. “Sarah had that for the rest of the time she was mayor, so we look at it this way. When you stop and think of who drove that, … why not get the biggest bang for the dollar for the city? Who knows, maybe some rich somebody from somewhere wants (Palin’s former vehicle). She does have a great following and there are a lot of people who may want it.”

“Hey, if Elvis’ Cadillacs can go for $1 million apiece, who knows?” he said. “Since it is a surplus vehicle, it’s got more intrinsic value to the city in terms of dollars than just some piece of machinery. The bigger dollar we can get, the better. The trick is to replenish the vehicle replacement fund for the city without having to dip into the tax dollars.”

To help potential buyers visualize the vehicle’s former driver, a cardboard cutout of Palin sits behind the wheel in the photo accompanying the ad on eBay and on the city’s website, cityofwasilla.com.

That was just a bit of fun, Rupright said. But trying to get top dollar for the city is not.

Sure $10,000.00 may SEEM like a reasonable price for a vehicle once driven by a woman who has single-handedly pushed the women's movement back 100 years, embarrassed the great state of Alaska, and had the same effect on politics that the black plague had on Europe, but once you pay to have it exorcised by a priest, blessed by a shaman, and dipped in holy water if could REALLY cost you.

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