by Deb Cupples | CBS News reports:
"CBS News has obtained a copy of the complaint that Frank Gwartney, a retired lineman in Anchorage filed last Friday, with Alaska’s Attorney General, Talis Colber in Juneau. “Palin ran on the platform of ethics, transparency and anti-corruption. I’m tired of the hypocrisy that exists in Government and people need to know the truth,” said Gwartney....
"Bristol, Piper and Willow, Palin’s daughters, accrued $32,629 in travel expenses while Palin’s husband Todd raked up $22,174 - all billed to the state for a total of $54,803.00."
“'The Governor’s office has expended $54,803.00 in Alaska state dollars for family travel since December 2006,' according to the Governor’s Administrative Services Director, Linda Perez. 'The documentation related to family travel has changed and you have to keep in mind that the governor and her family are very popular,' added Perez."
They're "very popular"? That's a good reason to bill Alaska's taxpayers for $50,000+ in family travel?
I need a minute to stop laughing before pasting the next paragraph into this post.... Ok, I'm back. The CBS News article continues:
"Sharon Leighow, Deputy Communications Director, said 'Governor Palin followed state policy allowing governors to charge for their children’s travel and there’s also the expectation that the first family participate in community activities across the state.'”
If Gov. Palin's spokesperson's statement is accurate (that state policy was followed), then there's no story here in terms of law or ethics.
It's a shame that the spokesperson didn't simply point to the written law or rule or regulation that reportedly allows the billing of Alaska's taxpayers for a governor's family members' travel expenses -- or that CBS News didn't get one of its reporters to dig up that law or rule or regulation.
Lacking time to dig it up myself, I'll suspend judgment until more information comes out about this "story."
In a public-relations sense, the story doesn't look good for Mrs. Palin. I mean, she has made a point of selling herself to the public as an "ordinary" hockey mom with a working-class flair -- underscored by her proud insistence on pronouncing the invisible "u" between the "c" and the "l" in the word nuclear.
And Mrs. Palin's attempts to build an ordinary-Jane image are hardly helped by the fact that professional shoppers bought more than $100,000 worth of "campaign accessories" for Mrs. Palin and her family (including clothing, shoes, and makeup) -- courtesy of donors to the Republican party.
I wonder how GOP donors from the lower end of the financial scale feel about their money being spent on such things.
Even if those expenditures turn out to be legal -- though I'm not sure they will -- they just don't gel with the current packaging of Mrs. Palin.
Seriously. How many ordinary working gals, who barely have time to pile their kids into a minivan and shuttle them to hockey games, actually receive clothing worth tens of thousands of dollars -- all picked out and delivered by paid servants?
No matter how many times Mrs. Palin says "dogonnit" or "dagnabit" -- no matter how many English words she doggedly mispronounces -- I doubt that ordinary working-class folks will buy her attempts to cover herself with an ordinary, working-class patina.
Memeorandum has commentary.
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