Sarah Palin seems to be everywhere these days, despite her lack of political office, and in June she is expected to get another payday by appearing at California State University Stanislaus — and one state senator is none too pleased.
California State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, filed a Public Records Act request to California State University Stanislaus last week, in an effort to find out how much the former GOP vice presidential nominee will be paid for a speaking engagement at the school this coming June, according to SFGate.
The First Amendment Coalition and the organization Californians Aware also filed requests for the compensation information. Yee’s Chief of Staff Adam Keigwin said this is not a partisan issue; Yee, a Democrat, requested the same information when President Bill Clinton spoke at UC Berkeley. Clinton gave the speech free of charge, Keigwin said, as an effort to give back to the students at public universities.
After Yee filed the request, he sent another letter reminding CSU Stanislaus President Hamid Shirvani of a bill Yee passed two years ago. When signed into law, the bill established that even when contracts with confidentiality clauses are involved, the university’s requirement to divulge information remains, Keigwin said.
Though the university is claiming that it will make money from the event, Keigwin said transparency is still necessary.
“That’s all well and good,” he said. “But unless you open up your books, how can we trust that?”
Judging from Palin’s past speaking engagements, Keigwin said she can charge between $100,000 and $200,000.