ANCHORAGE, Sept. 9, 2008
Palin Billed State For Nights At Home
Washington Post: Alaska Taxpayers Also Funded Family's Travel, Documents Show
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Palin Effect Boosts McCain
Sen. John McCain took a two-point lead over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, according to a new CBS poll. Bob Schieffer tells Harry Smith that Sarah Palin has helped excite the GOP.
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McCain Enjoying Palin Bounce
Polls show the addition of Sarah Palin has given a big boost to the McCain ticket. Chip Reid reports on how the 'Palin effect' has shaken up the race.
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McCain, Palin On The Road
With the finale of the Republican National Convention behind, John McCain and Sarah Palin are campaigning across the nation in hopes of attracting voters. Chip Reid reports from the campaign trail.
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Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin waves to the crowed as she goes on stage at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008. (AP)
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Timeline
Palin's Path
A look at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's life and career
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Photo Essay
Sarah Palin
Alaska's youngest and first female governor tabbed to be McCain's running mate.
From Our Partner:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.
The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.
Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post.
The governor's daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel, and many of the trips were between their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show.
Gubernatorial spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Monday that Palin's expenses are not unusual and that, under state policy, the first family could have claimed per diem expenses for each child taken on official business but has not done so.
Before she became the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee, Palin was little known outside Alaska. Now, with the campaign emphasizing her executive experience, her record as mayor of Wasilla, as a state oil-and-gas commissioner and as governor is receiving intense scrutiny.
During her speech at the Republican National Convention last week, Palin cast herself as a crusader for fiscal rectitude as Alaska's governor. She noted that she sold a state-owned plane used by the former governor. "While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for," she said to loud applause.
Speaking from Palin's Anchorage office, Leighow said Palin dealt with the plane and also trimmed other expenses, including forgoing a chef in the governor's mansion because she preferred to cook for her family. The first family's travel is an expected part of the job, she said.
"As a matter of protocol, the governor and the first family are expected to attend community events across the state," she said. "It's absolutely reasonable that the first family participates in community events."
The state finance director, Kim Garnero, said Alaska law exempts the governor's office from elaborate travel regulations. Said Leighow: "The governor is entitled to a per diem, and she claims it."
The popular governor collected the per diem allowance from April 22, four days after the birth of her fifth child, until June 3, when she flew to Juneau for two days. Palin moved her family to the capital during the legislative session last year, but prefers to stay in Wasilla and drive 45 miles to Anchorage to a state office building where she conducts most of her business, aides have said.
Palin rarely sought reimbursement for meals while staying in Anchorage or Wasilla, the reports show.
She wrote some form of "Lodging -- own residence" or "Lodging -- Wasilla residence" more than 30 times at the same time she took a per diem, according to the reports. In two dozen undated amendments to the reports, the governor deleted the reference to staying in her home but still charged the per diem.
Palin charged the state a per diem for working on Nov. 22, 2007 -- Thanksgiving Day. The reason given, according to the expense report, was the Great Alaska Shootout, an annual NCAA college basketball tournament held in Anchorage.
In separate filings, the state was billed about $25,000 for Palin's daughters' expenses and $19,000 for her husband's.
Flights topped the list for the most expensive items, and the daughter whose bill was the highest was Piper, 7, whose flights cost nearly $11,000, while Willow, 14, claimed about $6,000 and Bristol, 17, accounted for about $3,400.
One event was in New York City in October 2007, when Bristol accompanied the governor to Newsweek's third annual Women and Leadership Conference, toured the New York Stock Exchange and met local officials and business executives. The state paid for three nights in a $707-a-day hotel room. Garnero said the governor's office has the authority to approve hotel stays above $300.
Asked Monday about the official policy on charging for children's travel expenses, Garnero said: "We cover the expenses of anyone who's conducting state business. I can't imagine kids could be doing that."
But Leighow said many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of "state business" with the party extending the invitation.
One such invitation came in October 2007, when Willow flew to Juneau to join the Palin family on a tour of the Hub Juneau Christian Teen Center, where Palin and her family worship when they are in Juneau. The state gave the center $25,000, according to a May 2008 memo.
Leighow noted that under state policy, all of the governor's children are entitled to per diem expenses, even her infant son. "The first family declined the per diem [for] the children," Leighow said. "The amount that they had declined was $4,461, as of August 5."
The family also charged for flights around the state, including trips to Alaska events such as the start of the Iditarod dog-sled race and the Iron Dog snowmobile race, a contest that Todd Palin won.
Meanwhile, Todd Palin spent $725 to fly to Edmonton, Alberta, for "information gathering and planning meeting with Northern Alberta Institute of Technology," according to an expense report. During the three-day trip, he charged the state $291 for his per diem. A notation said "costs paid by Dept. of Labor." He also billed the state $1,371 for a flight to Washington to attend a National Governors Association meeting with his wife.
Gov. Palin has spent far less on her personal travel than her predecessor: $93,000 on airfare in 2007, compared with $463,000 spent the year before by her predecessor, Frank Murkowski. He traveled often in an executive jet that Palin called an extravagance during her campaign. She sold it after she was sworn into office.
"She flies coach and encourages her cabinet to fly coach as well," said Garnero, whose job is equivalent to state controller. "Some do, some don't."
Leighow said that the governor's staff has tallied the travel expenses charged by Murkowski's wife: $35,675 in 2006, $43,659 in 2005, $13,607 in 2004 and $29,608 in 2003. Associates of Murkowski said the former governor was moose hunting and could not be reached to comment.
In the past, per diem claims by Alaska state officials have carried political risks. In 1988, the head of the state Commerce Department was pilloried for collecting a per diem charge of $50 while staying in his Anchorage home, according to local news accounts. The commissioner, the late Tony Smith, resigned amid a series of controversies.
"It was quite the little scandal," said Tony Knowles, the Democratic governor from 1994 to 2000. "I gave a direction to all my commissioners if they were ever in their house, whether it was Juneau or elsewhere, they were not to get a per diem because, clearly, it is and it looks like a scam -- you pay yourself to live at home," he said.
Knowles, whose children were school-age at the start of his first term, said that his wife sometimes accompanied him to conferences overseas but that he could "count on one hand" the number of times his children accompanied him.
"And the policy was not to reimburse for family travel on commercial airlines, because there is no direct public benefit to schlepping kids around the state," he said. The rules were articulated by Mike Nizich, then director of administrative services in the governor's office, said Knowles and an aide to another former governor, Walter Hickel.
Nizich is now Palin's chief of staff. He did not return a phone call seeking comment. The rules governing family travel on state-owned aircraft appear less clear. Knowles said he operated under the understanding that immediate family could accompany the governor without charge.
But during the Murkowski years, that practice was questioned, and the state attorney general's office produced an opinion saying laws then in effect required reimbursement for spousal travel.
Research editor Alice Crites in Washington contributed to this report.
By James V. Grimaldi and Karl Vick
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
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See all 247 CommentsBRING IT ON !!!!
*"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in
elementary school, not since
*"NRA supporter": absolutely true
*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to
employees in same-*** relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional) .
*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing
as Governor to promote it.
*"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down''s
syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special
legislative session on some pro-life legislation
*political maverick: not at all
*gutsy: absolutely!
*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not
good at explaining actions.
*"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of
big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-
drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and a park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th
century standards.
*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses,
increased tax burden on residents
During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general
government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
They love their cheatin'' the taxpayers.
administration weren''t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with
indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn''t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general
government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
Posted by aldon61 at 09:51 AM : Sep 09, 2008
First you guys said her being Major war not a real job and should disqualify her for VP. Now you are miss charaterizing her record as Major.
THE DEMS ARE SOOOOO SCARED. THEY ARE FREAKING OUT AND IT IS FUNNY TO WATCH. IT REMINDS ME OF HOW THEY ACTED WHEN BUSH WON IN 04.
KEEP THE BS SPIN COMING. TALK ABOUT OUR VP INEXPERIENCE WE WILL TALK ABOUT YOU PRESIDENTS. TALK ABOUT HER EARMARKS AND WE WILL TALK ABOUT OBAMA''S EARMARKS.
YOU ALL HAVE BEEN SCHOOLED BY THE MCCAIN CAMP
During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general
government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
Posted by aldon61 at 09:51 AM : Sep 09, 2008
First you guys said her being Major war not a real job and should disqualify her for VP. Now you are miss charaterizing her record as Major.
THE DEMS ARE SOOOOO SCARED. THEY ARE FREAKING OUT AND IT IS FUNNY TO WATCH. IT REMINDS ME OF HOW THEY ACTED WHEN BUSH WON IN 04.
KEEP THE BS SPIN COMING. TALK ABOUT OUR VP INEXPERIENCE WE WILL TALK ABOUT YOU PRESIDENTS. TALK ABOUT HER EARMARKS AND WE WILL TALK ABOUT OBAMA''S EARMARKS.
YOU ALL HAVE BEEN SCHOOLED BY THE MCCAIN CAMP
I''m not seeing much of a scandal in this article about her expenses. There may be a few iffy expenses listed here but I think a politician should be able to bring along family to events and have the expenses covered.
The husband''s trip to Edmonton seems a but iffy to me.
employees in same-*** relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional) .
Posted by Aldon
--------------------------
Wrong!
She didn''t say it was unconstitutional.
It the the State Attorney General.
syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special
legislative session on some pro-life legislation
Posted by Aldon
---------------------------------------
Wrong again!
She opposes abortion even for incest, rape, AND the safety of the mother.
Are you prehaps a Republican?
Of course Republicans will look at this as a good thing because lots of small business back alley chop shops will spring up.
Posted by aldon61
Dream on, Obama operative.
YOU have a real problem with McCain''s selection because she is so successful. McCain hit a homerun and the Libs are freaked.
You Libs are SOOO worried that someday you won''t be able to kill babies anymore.
It''s really morbid.
employees in same-*** relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional) .
Posted by Aldon
--------------------------
Wrong
!
She didn''''t say it was unconstitutional.
It the the State Attorney General.
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Posted by FrootLoopHHH at 09:56 AM : Sep 09, 2008
I don''t deny that, someone had to tell her, she sure as heck didn''t read it herself. This lady is a loon that tried to fire a librarian for refusing to take certain books off the shelf. Banning books is what Hitler did first, learn from history; this gal is scary as hell!
The fun part for we Democrats is that McCain, like Bush before him, is too stubborn to admit that he screwed up.
He''ll go down in flames with this pick!(no reference to his Navy plane intended).
Hey media...did you remember the Biden is an admitted plagirist and makes constant racial jokes.!
Posted by HawkSprings
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Tipical Republican.
Actually saying she''s ''successful'' in a comment on an article about her unethical, illegal behavior.
You Republican love you officials corrupt.
You idiots!
YOU have a real problem with McCain''''s selection because she is so successful. McCain hit a homerun and the Libs are freaked.
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Posted by HawkSprings at 10:01 AM : Sep 09, 2008
You''re wrong on two counts here. First, I''m not a liberal, second, I''m glad Palin was selected; this is a gift horse, given to us by McCain. The last time someone selected a VP without a thorouh vetting was in 1972 when McGovern selected Thomas Eagleton. Eighteen days later, Eagleton had to withdraw because they found out he had been treated for mental illness. It''s going to happen again!
Makes a couple of Todd Palin emails look pretty tame.
Makes a couple of Todd Palin emails look pretty tame.
Republicans LIKE their politician lying to them, cheating, fact distortion, deception....
Republicans call that honorable and ethical behavior.
You''re not a Lib, but you''re glad for the gift horse McCain gave "us".
Who is "us"? The NRA?
You''re a typical Lib pretending to be a "Moderate" becuase you''re ashamed of the word Liberal.
Who cares she breaks the laws and has no ethics...she looks hot.
She opposes abortion even for incest, rape, AND the safety of the mother.
Are you prehaps a Republican?
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Posted by FrootLoopHHH at 09:58 AM : Sep 09, 2008
+ report abuse
Just reporting what public record shows, and you''re right on the assertion that she opposes abortion, even in the case of incest or rape. BTW, I''m an independent, used to be a republican, but havn''t voted for a republican for president since 1988. Hope that clears the air.
I was wrong. The party is totally FUBAR and that is obviously the way Republicans want it.
In addition to the fact that she did nothing illegal, they have to bury the REAL story almost at the end, which is Palin spent less than 1/4 of what her predecessor did on travel.
If this was a story about Obama or Biden, THAT would be the headline, praising them for all the money they saved taxpayers.
This is just another hatchet job from our friends in the Media arm of the DNC.
I bet Obama and Biden are wetting their pants hoping someone doesn''t look at their travel expenses and per diem items.
You''''re not a Lib, but you''''re glad for the gift horse McCain gave "us".
Who is "us"? The NRA?
You''''re a typical Lib pretending to be a "Moderate" becuase you''''re ashamed of the word Liberal.
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Posted by HawkSprings at 10:08 AM : Sep 09, 2008
You think I''m a liberal because I don''t agree with you? That''s George Bush speaking through your mouth. "If you''re not with us, you''re against us"; remember those words? There''s a whole bunch of us in the middle buddy, and we''re dam mad at the choices given to us by the two parties in power. If you''re for McCain this year, I''m against you, but you would not define me as a liberal if you knew me.
She learned quick their tricks of the trade.
Governor Palin''s travel expenses: $93,000.
THAT''S the REAL Story here.
SARAHCUDA!!
Posted by aldon61 at
Oh please, she''s going to be off the ticket??? Thats a laugher. She has changed everything and you guys are scared, and the more you talk about her being off the ticket and the more you bring up things like her family, well thats good for McCain.
The Libs are in big trouble!! Keep dreaming about all these supposed scandals coming out. If they try to bring up this mom''s past, the republicans will start bringing up rev right again. You are falling into the trap they set and its tooooo funny.
Governor Palin''''s travel expenses: $93,000.
THAT''''S the REAL Story here.
Let''s see Obama''s travel expenses from last year.
And let''s see his grades from Columbia to see if he deserved to get into Harvard, or was just another Affirmative Action case.
SARAHCUDA!!
Obama''s losing. So much for running a clean campaign.
How am I suppose to believe Barry, now?
He''s a man sinking in quick sand.
Everything he does only makes it WORSE.
Posted by aldon61 at 1
He''s an indepentdent but hasn''t voted for a republicna sines Regan??? Sounds like a left nut job to me
Because they probably spent 10 times more than Palin last year.
But 312 days at home during her first 19 months, she takes more time away from the job than do-nothing Bush. Considering how much time she spends at home it''s pretty amazing that she has teenage alcoholics and such sexually active teens (Bristol since she was 13). America can benefit from her experience.
Can you smell the desperation?
The way you describe her, she sounds like a liberal.
You should vote for her.
He''''s an indepentdent but hasn''''t voted for a republicna sines Regan??? Sounds like a left nut job to me
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Posted by palin0808 at 10:19 AM : Sep 09, 2008
+ report
I used a year, 1988, remember? The vote was for George H.W. Bush, the chimps dad. Perot got my votes in 1992 and 1996; didn''t vote for my first dem until 2000. I live in Texas, and saw what Bush did to our state, and I opposed him close to 100% of the time; he''s a sack of s.h.i.t.
Governor Palin''''s travel expenses: $93,000.
.... who cares where she stayed ... look how much she saved Alaskans!! Compare that to the $3-million Obama Camp spent for the football stadium for 1 night!!!
McCain-Palin ''08
Hillary Clinton 2012!!!
read it here- http://www.thepeoplescube.com/red/viewtopic.php?t=2280
Governor Palin''''''''s travel expenses: $93,000.
THAT''S the REAL Story here.
Now, let''s see Obama''s travel expenses from last year.
SARAHCUDA!!
.... in other words, you are saying that women do not use any judgment for their vote except gender? ... would you say the same thing for black people?
Pork and Turkey! Thanksgiving Favorites!
Posted by BlogThis1 at 10:28 AM : Sep 09, 2008
this is true of all politicians but the Republicans take it too the extreme.
It''s Turkey Day in Wasilla!
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