Governor Coppertone

Once of the first things Sarah Palin did to personalize the governor's mansion after she was elected was to install a tanning bed.

Self-proclaimed "hockey mom" Sarah Palin had a private tanning bed installed in the Governor's Mansion in Juneau, Alaska, Usmagazine.com confirmed on Monday. "She did. She paid for it with her own money," Roger Wetherell, chief communications officer of Alaska's Department of Transportation and Public Facilities told Us.

The Narco News Bulletin first reported on the former beauty queen's penchant for a bronzed body. "It was done shortly after she took office [in early 2007] and moved into the mansion," Wetherell told the Narco News. According to Wetherell, the tanning bed was purchased used, from a health club. Tanning beds can cost up to $35,000 to install in a home - not including the cost of parts, Color Me Tan manager Erin Weise told the Narco News. "I don't think it's normal for people to have a tanning bed in their house, " Wiese, who is based in Fairbanks said. "It's expensive."

A $35K tanning bed sounds like sound fiscal conservatism to me. Several months after the bed was installed, Gov. Palin declared May 2007 to be "Skin Cancer Awareness" month in Alaska. From her own press release: "Skin cancer is caused, overwhelmingly, by over-exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from tanning beds." I wonder what two-time skin cancer patient John McCain thinks about this, but we'll likely never know.