Adviser tried to convince Palin to retire Hillary's prez campaign debt

Washington, May 19 (ANI): A Washington-area Democratic donor and onetime adviser to Sarah Palin, urged the conservative Alaska governor to use her political action committee to help retire the presidential campaign debt of Hillary Clinton, who is now the US Secretary of State.

According to the web site Politico, John Coale , a wealthy trial attorney, reportedly made an attempt to forge an alliance between two of the most prominent families in American politics - the Palins and the Clintons.

An outspoken Clinton supporter during the Democratic primary who switched his allegiance to the Republicans for the presidential election, Coale, according to Palin insiders, was to help Palin develop a relationship with the Clintons to bolster the Republican governor's standing with Democrats and independents.

Palin was amenable to getting acquainted with the Clintons but was skeptical of using her PAC to help the former first lady.

She expressed concern to aides about Coale's request and a few days later directed Meg Stapleton, an Alaska-based campaign aide, to tell Coale that she would not help retire Clinton's debt.

"While we appreciate your efforts and recognize that a friendship with the Clintons is appropriate, the governor believes (and I concur) that using SarahPAC to pay down Hillary's debt is not a prudent use of the money," Stapleton wrote to Coale in a February 17 e-mail, a few days after he made his pitch to the governor.

Coale continued to raise the prospect of using SarahPAC to help Clinton, who was once public enemy No. 1 among the very Republicans who are Palin's most ardent followers.

"He thought the Clintons could rein in some of the Democratic firepower aimed at her," said a dumbfounded Republican privy to the discussion who advocated fiercely against the idea.

Pam Pryor, a Washington-based Palin adviser, defended Coale, calling him a "networking hound" who was only trying to help connect friends.

"There's a real difference between setting up bipartisan friendships and politics," said Pryor, a Republican and former Capitol Hill aide.

Palin allies lament that Coale's efforts with the Clintons are symptomatic of a chaotic post-election period. (ANI)