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; 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 do ents 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 do ents 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 rec ude 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 en led 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 en led 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 Ins ute 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.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews
Fail.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.
There's the rub.
Also, why don't we check out what we've all spent for Biden to travel hither, thither and yon for all these years. I wonder if he bills out that famous daily train trip? I really don't think you want to compare the perks Palin has claimed as Governor vs. those that a U.S. Senator might be claiming. REALLY don't think y'all want THAT can of worms opened!
we're not done with palin. how much will it cost to throw a shotgut
wedding......couples therapy.........divorce lawyers.......special needs child (not including the 62% funding cut to regular people)......crushing every union that doesn't include her husband.......
No, there's the rub.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.
And if you want to compare her "travel" expenses with Biden's commute to work then go ahead.
The R's will have egg all over their face when this is all said and done. Palin was not vetted nearly enough, it was a desperate move for a man that knows he was going to lose.
why muddy up the air with those silly facts. his amtrak, one way, costs about $90. i'm sure all "average americans" spend $90, one way, to their place of employment everyday. amtrak. another government run en y that hasn't made a profit in ages. one weird thing that biden brought up before the greek debacle was his mentioning of Amtrak
i didn't know amtrak was an issue.
Sounds like it is for you.
it's really not. i didn't bring it up in my vice presidential acceptance speech in front of millions of people, but thanks for asking.
The media is going after Palin with such vigor, it is quite impressive. Not really.
What a joke.
The Dems are afraid to go after McCain, aren't they? They must view him as vastly superior to their candidate to focus they're hatred on the VP nominee.
Keep thinking this election is about electing Bush or Palin for president and I promise you that they will continue to get their asses handily kicked by McCain.
Nobody knows how to lose a presidential election quite like the Democrats do. Implosion is like an art for them.
This is the truth.
Yeah because billing taxpayers for per diem money meant for travel expenses, when really, you're just sitting on your fat ass at home is just totally excusable right? How dare they hold her accountable for something like that?
Easy Cowboy.
Sarah Palin's ass IS NOT fat.
All companies and government agencies will either reimburse or pay a per diem whenever you travel more than 30 or so miles from your place of work on behalf of the company/gov't agency. The Governor's office is in Juneau, 600 miles away from Wasilla, she has every right to claim the per diem. Lodging costs are usually not included in a per diem, so you could actually say that she saved the state money by staying in her home rather than a hotel on her state business to Wasilla.
That's quite the scandal.
Originally Posted by WashingtonPost
Many of the trips (graphic) were to ferry her children and husband from their hometown of Wasilla to the state capital of Juneau, which is 600 miles away, The Post reported.
Palin's spokeswoman, Sharon Leighow, said the expenses are not unusual, noting that each of Palin's five children could have claimed a per diem expense and that Palin often did not seek out reimbursement for meals.
Palin has spent far less on travel than her predecessor, former Gov. Frank Murkowski, who spent $463,000 on travel in 2006. Palin spent $93,000 last year, records show.
The point is, she didn't travel, but she charged taxpayers with ing travel expenses. She was in her own home and she charged tax payers for per diem.
And I don't care if she spent less than her predecessor, he was probably a s bag too or, y'know, he was actually traveling when he billed the taxpayers for his travel expenses. Just because he spent a lot doesn't mean it's okay for her to steal out of taxpayer pockets.
And if you want to make a point by quoting someone, I'd suggest you find a better source than Sarah Palin's ing personal spokesperson. And just because her spokesperson says she technically could have charged more for her kids, doesn't mean she should have. , she shouldn't have even done it once. Why the are taxpayers paying for the travel of Sarah Palin's kids- last time I checked they aren't state employees and their presence does nothing to benefit the state.
To quote a more unbiased part of the article:
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
Let me know when you find some illegal activity.
Mensa.
She woke up in her house.
Then she traveled.
Then she went back home and slept in her house.
= per diem.
She did nothing illegal or even unethical. All of the expenses she claimed were well within the guidelines and policies of the state of Alaska. Again - this is a non-story, but libs don't let facts get in the way of their smear tactics!
She took per diem money while she stayed at home. Doesn't matter if it's legal or illegal under the law, for someone who touts themselves as a reformer that is an awfully greedy thing to do.
She "traveled" less than 1hr to work.
Explain to me how that is equivalent to "per diem" in the modern business world? I sure as don't get any per diem for going to and from work from my house.
Leave it to the Republicans to try and dumb down even the simplest of matters into incomprehensible nonsense. Why do you waste your time trying to defend the indefensible?
Slavery, gay rights, black rights, women's rights........you've been on the wrong side of history time and time again.
Seriously- I think it could be revealed that Palin committed a murder and the republicans on this board would spin it as a positive in the name of population control.
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