AP: Palin’s Travel Money Problem
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Alaska, Palin
Since Palin has run as a “reformer”, any hint of improperly allocating funds to benefit herself at the taxpayers’ expense really puts a dent in her credibility.
And the AP has apparently discovered some weird shifting around of funds to cover her kid’s travel expenses.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.
In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.
Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor’s children. The law allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business.
As governor, Palin justified having the state pay for the travel of her daughters — Bristol, 17; Willow, 14; and Piper, 7 — by noting on travel forms that the girls had been invited to attend or participate in events on the governor’s schedule.
But some organizers of these events said they were surprised when the Palin children showed up uninvited, or said they agreed to a request by the governor to allow the children to attend.
Listen, having your kids along on trips seems like a fairly normal thing, but claiming they were invited when they weren’t so the state would foot the bill just isn’t kosher.
Again, this goes back to her “reformer” image, and it certainly throws yet another monkey wrench into the works.
More as it develops…
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Alaska, Palin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 am
I see that Charlie Black and the McCain campaign have already tested the story and that it comes out a winner among Hillary women voters who appreciate a working mom’s dilemma. Here was the post from McCain insider Martin Eisenstadt (same guy who leaked the Joe the Plumber story):
http://www.eisenstadtgroup.com/2008/10/22/at-least-palin-didnt-charge-alaska-for-bristols-unborn-baby/