Tuesday 10 February 2009

Housegate - questions


There are some interesting similarities between Sarah's house and the Wasilla sports complex. The glass panelled balustrade featured in Matt Lauer's interview after the election (from around 3:35 to the end) bear a striking resemblance to those in the complex. The windows look similar too. Let's put it this way: the windows of the house look like those one would find in a commercial building, same goes for the glass balustrade. We know both the contractors working on the complex and the Palins used the same builders materials supplier, Spenard. But couldn't the Palins have chosen something a bit more homey and less sport complexey? Spenard are big in Alaska, I'm sure the Palins could have purchased windows and balustrade with a more residential look from their catalogue.

Looking at the windows again, from what I've seen in those TV programs where people embark on very ambitious projects and the viewers are regaled with detailed footage of how things come together, Todd's "buddies" would have needed some sophisticated, heavy equipment to get those windows in place. They look VERY expensive and nobody in their right mind would have trusted some bare handed "buddies" to instal them without incident. The same goes for the glass panel balustrade. They are not your run-of-the-mill, off the shelf type of thing. Again, they're very expensive and would need to have been fitted by expert contractors.

Let me play the devil's advocate and give the Palins the benefit of the doubt. Let's say that no parts of the house came from the complex building site. It still remains an absolutely ENORMOUS house, built to a very high standard, using very expensive components. Which was apparently built in no time at all, by multi-talented Todd and "buddies".

When Sarah built her house... her income was 68K a year. Even adding on Todd's income, the house was too expensive for a family of four kids, plus plane, plus vacation homes, plus boat, plus snow machines, etc. Sarah was still going on and on about how they are a family of modest means, real Joe-six-pack type of people, Todd being a blue collar worker and all that as recently as during the 2008 campaign. In 2002 Sarah earned half of what she earns today... I'm just doing the maths.

Another interesting coincidence is how both buildings went up within the same timeframe. The sports complex started being built at breakneck speed even before the title to the land was secured. It would appear that what had to be secured, even before the title to the land, was the committee that would select the contractors to build the sports complex. Before the mayor left office. So many coincidences, my poor head is spinning! Could it be a case of serendipity? Mmmmm....

I am only asking all these questions because the rumours were rife during the vice-presidential campaign, questions were asked, the answers were not terribly convincing and we still don't know the identity of Todd's resourceful and incredibly skilled "buddies". No records of building permits naming the contractor*, you see?

(*Does it mean that if you had a house built in Wasilla at that time and after completion the windows of house fell out, or a member of your family was electrocuted due to faulty installation, nobody would know who carried out the work? There wouldn't be a public record of it?)
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