Palin is a thief! Check this out! I can't wait until this gas bag w lipstick is old news.

[lonestarnot]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090803088.html?hpid=topnews


Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home
Taxpayers Also Funded Family's Travel

By James V. Grimaldi and Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 9, 2008; Page A01

ANCHORAGE, Sept. 8 -- 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

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

1. Wow, they really didn't vet this person at all

[lonestarnot]

2. Wow! She's a fucking theif! I believe that is called fucking fraud!

They got me cursing again! "Dat ting got my blood a boil'n!"

[firedupdem]

3. She is a real piece of work

Let's see the "spin" on this one.

[lonestarnot]

4. LOL Yeah can't wait for that either. Spinning tops w/ drills! Can they drill to China so

we can start funneling all of our money in that?

[pacalo]

6. Or, they don't give a hoot because they don't need the votes - they're stealing the election.

[quiet.american]

5. Yet McCain stands up there and swears he's going to TAKE OUT THE PORK. nt

[WA98296]

7. Just curious...Is this the REALLY BIG news we've been waiting for?

[ourbluenation]

11. couldn't be - it's supposed to be about mccain. n/t

[lonestarnot]

18. Nope! MCSAME. He will steal the spotlight.

[KansasVoter]

8. Is this the big story you are hyping???

[lonestarnot]

19. Nope. MCSAME. He will be the star for that one. LOL

[dysfunctional press]

9. the real meat is at the end of the article...

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.

i do believe that the lady is toast.

[orestes]

13. Doubtful

Doesn't have nearly enough sex to interest the vaunted "low information voters."

While this will cause some gnashing of teeth here, that doesn't really matter much because we already weren't gonna vote for McCain anyway.

Won't matter on the right because this has nothing to do with why the religious nutters are all in a twitter over her.

[dysfunctional press]

14. i don't think they'll get a chance to vote for her...

this is the kind of stuff that could bounce her from the ticket.

[Nite Owl]

15. They can't win with just their

base. They need some of the Independent voters and this will lose them.

[lonestarnot]

20. With lipstick on top! mmmmmm

:puke:

[Cleita]

10. She kind of fits in with BushCo.

Do you think it will be a problem with them? They may not look at it as crime but being money smart.

[lonestarnot]

21. People don't like it when you fuck with their money.

[Cleita]

23. I know I don't like it but since she's effing with government money

and BushCo does the same, it seems they are peas in a pod.

[lonestarnot]

25. And that money came from taxpayers, and yes bushitlers of a feather, hence McSames

[Eric J in MN]

12. The cover-up.

===============================================
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090803088_2.html?hpid=topnews


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.
===============================================

[johnnydrama]

16. I kind of doubt

That the law in Alaska is meant for the Governor to live 600 miles away, and then everytime she decides to go in to work, the state is supposed to pay for her and her family.

Try that at your job.

They may pay for your 25 mile commute. Ask them if you can live 600 miles away, and they can pay for you to fly in every week.

[stillcool]

17. oh dear...

It's only Monday. I've read a bunch of articles today about some whacked out shit this lady has done. Making rape victims pay for their own rape kits, involuntary use of shock treatment on children. Why are all these republicans sadistic nutjobs?

[lonestarnot]

22. NAZIs thought they owned the world too.

[underseasurveyor]

24. And she'll say... It no big deal,

it goes with the job. And the media, if they mention it at all, will agree.. Oh that little thing it's no big deal:banghead:

Yes she is an arrogant, pompous thief! With lipstick!

[lonestarnot]

26. Oh and shit now they're talking about her cultship.

Tongue talkers. Maybe they better pass the plate around her, she might snatch herself a few bucks. :hide:

[underseasurveyor]

29. HA HA HA

Pass the plate AROUND her:rofl:

[FatDave]

27. I said it in the other thread, but I'll say it in this one too.

This is the one that sinks her (and probably McCain with her). It's highly prosecutable, and it's easy enough for the sedated masses to understand.

[B Calm]

33. I agree it's highly prosecutable, but in a state that is not on the take!

[renate]

28. Alaska is a big state... but so is Texas

Isn't the governor pretty much expected to live in Austin? Does any other state have an arrangement like this? I'd like to know which "officials say was permitted."

And WTH? Charging the state to take her children on business? Oh hells to the no. This would set working women back 50 years if she begs off with "but I'm a working mother" and claims that taking them along was necessary to doing her job.

[radfringe]

30. reminds me of something that happened in Massachusetts

MA DUers check in - help me out here

can't remember who the woman was, but on the taxpayers dime she was driven from Western Mass to/from Boston everyday. Was that Jane Swift? or someone else?

speaking of Swift:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Swift

By the end of her term, Swift was extremely unpopular with voters in the state (at one point having the dubious honor of a single-digit approval rating). This unpopularity was due in part to a perceived lack of effectiveness and in part to apparent abuses of her gubernatorial privileges, including: her use of a Massachusetts State Police helicopter to commute cross-state, from Boston to her home in North Adams; and, the use of State House aides to babysit her children.

btw - Swift is backing Palin-McCain:

Swift rallies in defense of PalinBy James W. Pindell
http://www.politickerma.com/jamespindell/1029/swift-rallies-defense-palin
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Former Gov. Jane Swift (R-North Adams) was the lead defender of what she called "sexist" media attacks on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in the last week.

"It is clear that Sarah Palin loves her children and we should leave it at that," said Swift.

Swift led a press conference today with other Republican women aimed at crushing what they said were sexist narratives seen in the media ever since Palin was selected to be the first Republican woman on a national ticket when U.S. John McCain selected her as his running mate last week.

has anyone ever found out who was taking care of the kids while Palin was working? I remember reading something about the "first dude" doing it while Palin was mayor, but went back to work. And there was some mention that the kids were farmed out to relatives/friends.

[lynnertic]

31. "Who was taking care of the kids while Palin was working (1 of every 3 days/year)"

By the evidence of one pregnant teen and another being shipped to Iraq instead of jail, I would guess that they were taking care of themselves while she was working (1 of every three days/year).

I wonder how her vacation time compares with W's.

[Hubert Flottz]

32. Sarah is "Special" and She has Special Needs...

She's a Beauty Queen!