Sarah Palin Speaking Contract: 'Rider' Demands First-Class Travel, Pre-Screened Questions, Bendable Straws

Sarah Palin Speaking Contract: 'Rider' Demands First-Class Travel, Pre-Screened Questions, Bendable Straws

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Sarah Palin will get first-class airfare for two and three rooms at a luxury hotel when she gives a speech in June for a university foundation.

And organizers better not forget to stock her lectern with two water bottles and bendable straws.

The details of Palin's contract [PDF] with the California State University, Stanislaus Foundation were contained in five pages of the document retrieved from a campus trash bin by students who heard administrators might be shredding documents related to the speech.

Keep reading below or scroll through details from Palin's contract

State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, provided copies of the paperwork Tuesday.

Among other perks, Palin will fly first class - if she flies commercial. If not, "the private aircraft MUST BE a Lear 60 or larger ...," the contract specifies. She also must be provided with a suite and two single rooms in a deluxe hotel.

Moreover, for Q&A sessions, the document specifies that "the questions are to be collected from the audience in advance, pre-screened and a designated representative...shall ask questions directly of the speaker [Palin] to avoid delay time with a roving microphone in the audience."

The document, dated March 16, does not include compensation details for Palin, who commands speaking fees as high as $100,000.

The students said they acted on a tip that documents were being shredded last Friday, when campus staff members were supposed to be on furlough.

The foundation previously denied a request to release details of the contract made by The Associated Press under the California Public Records Act.

Last week, the university responded to a public records request by Yee by saying it did not have any documents related to Palin's appearance and had referred the matter to foundation board president Matt Swanson.

The next day, Swanson sent letters to both Yee and The Associated Press stating that Palin's contract has a nondisclosure clause. University foundations and other auxiliary organizations were not subject to the same public records requirements as the university itself, he said.

Yee disputed the claim.

Two of the students who discovered the discarded documents traveled to Sacramento to present them to the state attorney general's office. The office is reviewing Yee's request for an investigation into allegations that the university violated the California Public Records Act.

On Tuesday McClatchy also reported that Palin was seeking to ban cameras and tape recorders from her appearance at CSU Stanislaus:

But for reasons that remain ambiguous, there's no evidence that either video or sound recordings will be permitted at her June 25 speech in Turlock. Palin has imposed similar electronic blackouts at some of her other recent speeches, including several delivered in Florida last month and one delivered in Arkansas in February.

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