Palin has been dipping in Alaska's Funds

[iotamason]

Report: Palin tapped travel allowance at home

http://news.yahoo.com/story/ap/20080...fyHtc2uuvafZzp h24cA


WASHINGTON – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has charged her state a daily allowance, normally used for official travel, for more than 300 nights spent at her home, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

An analysis of travel statements filed by the governor, now John McCain's Republican running mate, shows she claimed the per diem allowance on 312 occasions when she was home in Wasilla and that she billed taxpayers $43,490 for travel by her husband and children.

Per diem payments are meant for meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business. State officials told The Post her claims — nearly $17,000 over 19 months — were permitted because her "duty station" is Juneau, the capital, and she was in Wasilla 600 miles away. The governor moved to Juneau last year but often stays in Wasilla and works 45 miles away, in a state office in Anchorage.

Palin's spending and record in office are coming under intense scrutiny as she is presented to the nation as a champion of ethics reform and frugal use of tax dollars — a leader who put the state jet on sale on eBay and drives herself to work..........................................

[PhiGam]

I am already sick of the liberal mudslinging towards Governor Palin.
That article fails to mention that her predecessor billed over $500,000 to that same account every year, I WOULD call that reform. She doesn't pay maids, chefs, personal assistants, etc. She is a normal person with a NORMAL family. The fact of the matter is that the expenses that she billed were necessary for her to be able to hold the office of Governor, that is the purpose of that account. This is another pathetic attempt to cast her in a negative light, and it will fail just like the rest of the left's propaganda.
First was that her teenage daughter was pregnant. She was a terrible mother for allowing this to happen. That attack showed just how out of touch the democrats are with average Americans, teenage pregnancy happens sometimes even in the presence of great parenting. It was reminiscient of the attacks on Jenna Bush for drinking underage. Maybe we should focus on Joe Biden's son who is going to trial for FRAUD and EMBEZZLEMENT and there are allegations that Biden's brother will soon face similar charges.
Another weak attack was that Palin was from a small state, Obama even made a demeaning comment about her being a mayor. Maybe the liberals should have compared the population of Delaware (Senator Biden's constituency) to Alaska before they opened their mouths.
The bottom line is this: Sarah Palin is an amazing person, a great speaker, and is able to claim a moral highground on just about everyone in the political arena. She didn't sacrifice any of her values to get to where she is today and the Democrats are scared shitless. I won't say that I'm angry about the liberal attacks, they are DESTROYING themselves with this crap. The "unthinkable" has happened because of this: McCain is leading Obama and will win this November.

[texas*princess]

yeah it's allllll the media's fault that they are reporting on stuff that they think we should know It's all the media's fault.. they are just pickin on her b/c she's a woman !!1!!

[Drolefille]

I've been reading an interesting article discussing how all of a sudden republicans are falling all over themselves to say how all this other stuff doesn't matter she's such a good speaker and her experience is enough, meanwhile democrats are harping on experience and prying to family life.

Gee, why does that seem familiar.

To be fair, there are legitimate political arguments to be made against Palin, just like there are against Obama. Family isn't one of them, the quality of her governance is. But people who've been complaining about Obama's minister for months should not be shocked by the turnabout. And people complaining about people complaining about Obama's minister should shut their mouths and take the high road.

(Besides Alaska's small population, big size, Arizona's not exactly jam packed full of people, Delaware's tiny and Illinois has Chica.. oh wait.) IMO Palin's lack of national experience of any sort, and a disconnected-ness with the rest of the country are negatives. Of course, others may see these as positives.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

But people who've been complaining about Obama's minister for months should not be shocked by the turnabout. And people complaining about people complaining about Obama's minister should shut their mouths and take the high road.

Absolutely - I'm glad someone else said it on the board. If you were previously complaining about the media's treatment of Obama's personal life earlier in the campaign, then you really shouldn't be saying anything about Palin or McCain's personal lives. One thing I can't stand is hypocrisy.

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Absolutely - I'm glad someone else said it on the board. If you were previously complaining about the media's treatment of Obama's personal life earlier in the campaign, then you really shouldn't be saying anything about Palin or McCain's personal lives. One thing I can't stand is hypocrisy.

Yeah, me neither.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Absolutely - I'm glad someone else said it on the board. If you were previously complaining about the media's treatment of Obama's personal life earlier in the campaign, then you really shouldn't be saying anything about Palin or McCain's personal lives. One thing I can't stand is hypocrisy.

It does work both ways though.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

yeah it's allllll the media's fault that they are reporting on stuff that they think we should know It's all the media's fault.. they are just pickin on her b/c she's a woman !!1!!

No, it's the lack of context.

Did the story mention that she billed about 450K less than her predecessor? That might be kind of important.

[awkward1]

Originally Posted by Kevin

No, it's the lack of context.

Did the story mention that she billed about 450K less than her predecessor? That might be kind of important.

Ditto. Not to mention that her official home as Governor of Alaska is the governors mansion in Juneau, so when she works out of the Anchorage office but commutes to her other home in Wasilla she is actually saving the state a whole lot of money on hotel and food expenses. It takes about 45 minutes to travel from Anch. to Wasilla without traffic, during rush hour obviously much more time. I'd say the per diem is fairly hers and I think that if there was a problem then Alaskans would be the first to speak up about it. Again, someone making a mountain out of a molehill. Also, kudos to the poster who got their geography right; Wasilla is NOT the 2nd largest city in Alaska, not even close. Perhaps the MatSu borough is the second largest borough in the state but I cannot swear to that, I am only guessing at how this 'fact' was arrived at.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by awkward1

Ditto. Not to mention that her official home as Governor of Alaska is the governors mansion in Juneau, so when she works out of the Anchorage office but commutes to her other home in Wasilla she is actually saving the state a whole lot of money on hotel and food expenses. It takes about 45 minutes to travel from Anch. to Wasilla without traffic, during rush hour obviously much more time. I'd say the per diem is fairly hers and I think that if there was a problem then Alaskans would be the first to speak up about it. Again, someone making a mountain out of a molehill. Also, kudos to the poster who got their geography right; Wasilla is NOT the 2nd largest city in Alaska, not even close. Perhaps the MatSu borough is the second largest borough in the state but I cannot swear to that, I am only guessing at how this 'fact' was arrived at.

Here's where I got my facts on population. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/02000.html

MatSu is not the second largest borough even, Anchorage is first, then Fairbanks North Star. The boroughs have changed from the 2000 census (I'm pretty sure they added a lot more), but that doesn't change the fact that Wasilla is a small town compared to others. I will give them props for having a Target built this summer, they got one roughly the same time as Anchorage.

I'm not even remotely interested in voting for Sarah Palin either, even though we're alumnae of the same University. I guess I'm just annoyed by poor fact checking and reporting considering Alaska is the focus of my graduate studies. I'm an Anthropologist, I can't vote for someone who discards the fossil record in a state where my work has contributed to said record.

[bluefish81]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Just before the last election, the calls completely filled up my voicemails both at home (while at work) and at work (while at home) to the point that I couldn't receive messages that I needed to receive. THAT is annoying. Perhaps this is considerably worse in battleground states?

I am soooo happy I dumped my landline six months ago. No random dialer, pre-recorded political phone calls. They were calling you at work too? That's weird to me.

[PhiGam]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

yeah it's allllll the media's fault that they are reporting on stuff that they think we should know It's all the media's fault.. they are just pickin on her b/c she's a woman !!1!!

Did I say that? No. I don't bitch about the media leaning one way or the other, there are multiple news outlets for people with any political belief.

[BetteDavisEyes]

Originally Posted by PhiGam

I am already sick of the liberal mudslinging towards Governor Palin.
That article fails to mention that her predecessor billed over $500,000 to that same account every year, I WOULD call that reform. She doesn't pay maids, chefs, personal assistants, etc. She is a normal person with a NORMAL family. The fact of the matter is that the expenses that she billed were necessary for her to be able to hold the office of Governor, that is the purpose of that account. This is another pathetic attempt to cast her in a negative light, and it will fail just like the rest of the left's propaganda.
First was that her teenage daughter was pregnant. She was a terrible mother for allowing this to happen. That attack showed just how out of touch the democrats are with average Americans, teenage pregnancy happens sometimes even in the presence of great parenting. It was reminiscient of the attacks on Jenna Bush for drinking underage. Maybe we should focus on Joe Biden's son who is going to trial for FRAUD and EMBEZZLEMENT and there are allegations that Biden's brother will soon face similar charges.
Another weak attack was that Palin was from a small state, Obama even made a demeaning comment about her being a mayor. Maybe the liberals should have compared the population of Delaware (Senator Biden's constituency) to Alaska before they opened their mouths.
The bottom line is this: Sarah Palin is an amazing person, a great speaker, and is able to claim a moral highground on just about everyone in the political arena. She didn't sacrifice any of her values to get to where she is today and the Democrats are scared shitless. I won't say that I'm angry about the liberal attacks, they are DESTROYING themselves with this crap. The "unthinkable" has happened because of this: McCain is leading Obama and will win this November.

Here's an idea. Stop reading the threads & stop watching the news!
There are plenty of us here who don't care for Palin so we'll damn well give our opinions on her & her policies. As for the media, get over it. Stick to Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh.

[SWTXBelle]

Back to the op - I need more information. Even if she were at home that night, she might have been traveling during the day. I also seem to recall that she did not move her family to the capital - that might explain the family travel expenses. I'm sure the story will develop, and then we'll see. I'm not quite ready to call her a thief.

As an aside, I think it is far more of a theft of taxpayer's money when sitting, oh, I don't know, SENATORS, are off on the campaign trail and not working - yet still collect their pay. It's one reason I think the campaign season should be streamlined.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

As an aside, I think it is far more of a theft of taxpayer's money when sitting, oh, I don't know, SENATORS, are off on the campaign trail and not working - yet still collect their pay. It's one reason I think the campaign season should be streamlined.

I would love it if the campaign season was streamlined. However, the trend still seems to be going the other way. I can't think of a candidate, other than Ross Perot, who wasn't a current politician and placed in this position. It stinks though.