SarahPAC packs it in

WASHINGTON — SarahPAC is no more.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee filed a notice of termination with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, ending an eight-year run of collecting millions, mostly via direct mail, to ostensibly support tea party candidates across the country.

Her efforts and attention appear to have shifted to the online news business.

In recent years, SarahPAC has been spending more than it was taking in, and as of Dec. 31, according to the FEC filing, the account is zeroed out.

In 2016, SarahPAC still brought in more than $450,000, and spent more than $750,000, though only a small portion of that — $77,000 — went to donations to candidates. Far less was spent on Palin's travel to support candidates.

But the money still flowed: SarahPAC spent more than $650,000 on consultants and direct mail and postage — efforts presumably meant to draw in more funds — in 2016. For years Palin has been spending $10,000 a month or more on a fundraising consultant in Florida, Timothy Crawford, who manages the PAC, among others.

[Palin's PAC supported political consultants more than GOP candidates in 2015]

Efforts to reach Palin and officials working for her PAC were unsuccessful Thursday.

The tea party darling appears to have turned her focus elsewhere, to a new money-making venture. For the last two weeks, Palin has been touting aggregated news stories (meaning stories pulled largely from the reporting of others) posted on SarahPalin.com.

The site, which Palin promotes on Twitter and Facebook, links to stories with eye-catching headlines and a conservative bent. The "about" section of the site touts her endorsement and support of SarahPAC as "the gold standard for conservative candidates every election cycle," but does not mention it is no longer active.

The site also has an online "store" featuring links to Amazon sales offerings of books by Palin and her family members.

The news comes a day after Radar Online reported the pilot for a new Palin reality show was axed. The show was set to star Palin as a "commonsense" judge, like Judge Judy but minus a law degree.