Palin says she had to pay for vetting

Sarah Palin says in her new book that after she and Sen. John McCain lost the 2008 presidential election, the campaign made her pay $50,000 to help cover the cost of vetting her for the Republican ticket.

In her memoir, “Going Rogue,” she writes that in the months leading up to her resignation as Alaska governor in July of this year, her legal bills had mounted to more than $500,000. Part of that was incurred combating what she calls frivolous ethics complaints.

But what appeared to upset her most was that about $50,000 of the legal bills was her share of the expenses for being vetted to become McCain’s running mate, Palin writes.

In her book -- which is due to be released Tuesday, but which the Associated Press purchased Thursday -- Palin said that no one had informed her she would have to take care of any expenses related to the selection process.

Palin writes that when she asked officials at the Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign if they would help her financially, she was told that the bills would have been paid if the Arizona senator had won the presidency, but since he lost, the bills were her responsibility.

Trevor Potter, general counsel for the McCain campaign, told the Associated Press that the campaign had never asked Palin to pay a legal bill.

“To my knowledge, the campaign never billed Gov. Palin for any legal expenses related to her vetting, and I am not aware of her ever asking the campaign to pay legal expenses that her own lawyers incurred for the vetting process,” he said.

Potter said that if Palin’s personal lawyer billed her for any work related to her vetting, “we are unaware of it. It was never raised with the campaign.”

In Palin’s memoir, she also confirms reports of tension between her aides and McCain’s. She writes that she wanted to speak on election night but was thwarted. She says she rewrote the McCain campaign’s statement about her daughter Bristol’s pregnancy, only to see a newscaster reading the McCain version on the air.

She also writes harshly of CBS anchor Katie Couric, whom she describes as “badgering” and biased. Palin’s series of interviews with Couric were widely regarded as disastrous, leaving the impression of an ill-informed candidate unsuited for the vice presidency.