ANCHORAGE -- Alaska Gov. and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was nearly the owner of a car wash in Anchorage. Palin, who during the GOP convention noted that her sister and brother-in-law had recently opened a service station, and her husband did hold a 40% stake in a company called Anchorage Car Wash LLC, but the business never got off the ground, according to a report in Modern Car Care Magazine.
In the end, it turned out to be little more than an aborted real-estate investment, according to Carolin Wells, one of Palin 's partners in the venture.
“Things [image-nocss] happened on both sides, and we never even got it going. We just sold the land and went on our merry way,” Wells, who held 60% of the company with her husband Ray, told the magazine. “There was just nothing really but a land deal. I did go and get an LLC right away just to protect us because, when we first started, we thought we were going to go ahead [with the project].”
The Washington Post reported Sept. 2 that the Republican candidate for vice president had been part of a failed Anchorage car wash while she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. The newspaper said Palin failed to disclose her interest in the company when filing paperwork as a candidate for governor in Alaska 's 2006 election.
While Anchorage Car Wash LLC was technically still registered with the state when Palin campaigned for the governorship, the Wells and Palins had already sold the property and parted ways by the time Palin filed her financial disclosure forms with the state.
According to state records, Wells filed a certificate of organization for the company in 2004, listing herself as the registered agent. She also outlined in an initial biennial report that the Wells each held 30% of the company and the Palins 20%. There is no record of a business license for Anchorage Car Wash LLC on file with the state, which would have been required to run an operating business, according to the report.
Public records show that the Wells and Palins purchased a plot of commercial property in Anchorage on July 1, 2004 and then sold it for a small profit Jan. 4, 2006. Records also show Palin filed financial disclosure forms for her governor 's race June 1, 2006, nearly five months after the land was sold.
So what happened?
“I had always wanted to do a car wash,” Wells said, explaining that her husband knew Todd Palin 's brother, who initially spoke to the Palins on the Wells ' behalf. After some discussion, the Palins agreed to be silent partners, she noted.
The project ran out of steam, however, when the man hired to run the operation backed out. Neither the Wells nor Palins had the desire to run a carwash day-to-day, she said.
“We just decided to disband it,” Wells said. “It was actually just an investment for both of us over a piece of property as it turned out.”
Once the property sold, Wells did not maintain current registration with the state. Alaska requires businesses file biennial reports every two years. Wells did not file a second biennial report for the company, due Jan. 2, 2006, two days before signing deed papers for the sale of the land.
The state 's division of corporations, business and professional licensing didn 't issue a customary, 60-day notice requesting the biennial report and associated fees until Feb. 11, 2007. When Wells did not respond to the letter, the state issued an involuntary dissolution of Anchorage Car Wash on April 3, 2007. Gov. Palin took office Dec. 4, 2006.
While sounding ominous, involuntary dissolutions are fairly common. Alaska averages approximately 675 such terminations each year, according to Gordon Evans, a business registration examiner with the state. Dissolutions occur primarily, he said, due to failure to maintain a registered agent or file biennial reports.
Evans also said it is not unusual for companies to register with the state but never actually conduct business. Companies that ultimately do not maintain a registered agent, file a biennial report or pay associated licensing fees do not need to notify the state or provide any reasons for the inactivity, he said.
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