[daddydirt]

Originally Posted by JackSpratts

"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."

- Tony Knowles, the democratic governor of Alaska from 1994 to 2000


Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home

Taxpayers Also Funded Family's Travel
James V. Grimaldi and Karl Vick

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.

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.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

what a great post jack. show the first few paragraphs of the story and then cherrypick a comment from a former Democratic governor.

allow me to post a few quotes from the same article that you "neglected".

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.

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."

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."

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

i wonder what Governor Knowles' expenses were.

typical trash by the "respected" Washington Post ........front page article with a bold headline inferring that she did something wrong. yet all one has to do is to read the entire article to find that she in fact did nothing wrong.

i expect something like this every day until the elction.