Why? Because Palin was great at getting earmarks for her State and they were going to spend it otherwise they would have to turn it back to the Fed.
Meanwhile, Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone -- because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government.
Hmm, does that sound like a Woman who is bent on earmark reform?
Unlike McCain, though, Palin has not been a purist on earmarks. As Alaska governor, she sought and obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for the state, and as mayor of Wasilla, she hired lobbyist and former Stevens staffer Steve Silver to steer federal money to her town. Some of her own earmark projects even landed on McCain's list of questionable congressional pork barrel spending when she served as mayor from 1996 to 2002.
And if that incongruity isn't enough to toss the GOP Faithful for a loop, how about her practice of charging the people for her nights at home?
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.
Well, does that sound like the kind of ethical practice you want a heart beat away from the Presidency? I think we all aught to make the Anchorage Daily News a regular part of our reading in the lead up to the election.
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