Tracey Schmitt, who served as Palin's traveling press secretary, said, "Any purchases that were made by campaign aides have been or will be reimbursed."
In response to allegations that as much as $40,000 was spent outfitting the governor's husband, Todd Palin, Stapleton said: "Two people were told to go clean up Todd . . . so he could look the part. They went and purchased . . . two suits. I'm not sure two suits add up to $40,000."
Palin had asked that any clothing that did not belong to the family be removed from the campaign plane in Phoenix before she left for Alaska on Wednesday. But it never was, and when the Palins landed in Anchorage, 14 suitcases were brought to their house. Half belonged to Palin and her family. The remainder were full of the purchased clothing, paperwork and other items.
Aides were at the Palins' Wasilla home Friday sorting through the luggage, and will return any clothing and accessories that don't belong to them to the RNC, Stapleton said: "All of it is going back."
Palin made that clear in her interviews Friday. "The RNC purchased clothes. Those are the RNC's clothes, they're not my clothes; I never forced anybody to buy any," she told CNN. "I never asked for anything more than a Diet Dr Pepper once in a while."
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seema.mehta@latimes.com
maeve.reston@latimes.com
