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ANCHORAGE -- 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. 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, the documents show. Many of the trips were to and from their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away.
Gubernatorial spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Monday that Palin's expenses were not unusual and that, under state policy, the first family could have claimed per diem expenses for each child taken on official business but had not done so.
It;s legal, but the former Dem governor told his staff not to do it.
When is a maverick not a maverick? When they just spent 26 years in non maverick land.
And she was only against the bridge to nowhere after she was for it and kept the money anyway, and she didn't sell her plan on ebay, and she didn't fire the chef.
Did you watch Keith Olbermann or the Daily Show last night? I think I heard all this on MSNBC.
If the mainstream/corporate media doesn't call them on their lies, they'll get away with it.
Thom Hartmann yesterday was warning that Obama hasn't faught back hard enough. Polls showing McCain winning now. No freakin way.
If America doesn't care about all of their lies, or if America is dumb enough to fall for Rove's tactics a 3rd time, screw it. I'll find something else other than politics to be my hobby.
Man, I can't wait for the NBA to start up again.
I watch the daily show.
But this stuff is in the news too.
One thing Barack Obama and McCain disagree on is an oil windfall-profits tax. McCain is against it, on the theory that it is a tax and therefore bad and also on the theory that it would discourage domestic production. Obama is for it, on the theory that if oil companies can make a nice profit when oil sells for $50 per bbl., they can still make a nice profit when it sells at more than $100, even if the government takes a bit and spreads the money around to those who are hurting from higher oil prices.
Although Palin's words side with McCain in this dispute, her actions side with Obama. Her major legislative accomplishment has been to revamp Alaska's windfall-profits tax in order to increase the state's take. Alaska calls it a "clear and equitable share" tax. The state assumes that extracting oil from the tundra costs about $25 per bbl. and takes as much as 75% of the difference between that and the sale price.
Why is a windfall-profits tax good for Alaska but not for the U.S.?
Sarah Palin's Alaskonomics - TIME
