Jeff Larson, a Minnesota Republican operative, is expected to become the new RNC Chief of Staff.  But as Yahoo!’s Holly Bailey reported,

back in the fall of 2008, Larson gained another sort of notoriety: He provided his credit card for Sarah Palin’s infamous $150,000 clothing makeover.

As you may recall, this became a pretty big — if superficial — scandal back in 2008.

As Newsweek reported,

The disclosure that the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and accessories for vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family set off recriminations among GOP officials—and, more important, party donors. It wasn’t just the volume of the purchases—which included new dresses for Palin, suits for husband Todd and outfits for her children—it was the use of swanky stores like Neiman Marcus. One top party fundraiser told NEWSWEEK that, ever since the story broke on Politico.com, he was bombarded with calls from Republican donors who were “furious” that their contributions were used for such purposes. “This has damaged everybody’s credibility,” griped the fundraiser (who asked not to be identified talking about party business). Among those upset was Saul Anuzis, the Michigan Republican Party chairman, still smarting over McCain’s decision to pull out of his state. “I have no idea how you spend $150,000 on clothes,” he says. Lobbyist Andrea McWilliams, a GOP fundraiser in Texas, said the flap undercut the party’s message. Palin’s “transformation from low couture to haute couture isn’t the kind of change that voters had in mind,” she said.

Personally, the clothing thing doesn’t bother me.  This strikes me as much ado about nothing.  But from a public relations standpoint, RNC insiders must be frustrated with this revelation.

On the heels of Michael Steele’s rocky and sloppy regime, new RNC Chair Reince Priebus simply cannot allow his nascent tenure to become a joke.

Republicans should hope this is merely an example of media obsession with Palin — and not a harbinger of things to come at the RNC.