Mr. McCain Picks a Woman for V.P. Mate

[Hardball]

you can't have a recession when the economy is still growing.

So you're saying all your neighbors have jobs?

[Hardball]

Palin's expense reports under scrutiny
Officials defend reimbursements, but trips with children raise questions
By James V. Grimaldi and Karl Vick
The Washington Post
updated 12:02 a.m. ET, Tues., Sept. 9, 2008
ANCHORAGE - 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 to and from their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show.

Has campaignd on reform message
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 crusader for fiscal rectitude 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 that Palin dealt with the plane and also trimmed other expenses, including foregoing 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."


Strict regulations don't cover governor
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."

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.

Thousands spent on children's flights
In separate filings, the state was billed about $25,000 for Palin's daughters' expenses and $19,000 for her husband, Todd Palin.

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 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."

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 Institute 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 flight to Washington to attend a National Governors Association meeting with his wife.

‘She flies coach’
ov. 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.

Murky rules on kids' expenses
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

[darrianation]

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[treelizard]

Folks are greedy, all they see is the $500 cut in the payroll tax for workers making under $125,000 a year instead of the bigger picture. Like I have said before, whatever it is suppose to be we have become a nation of irresponsible people who vote for whoever will give them the most form your pocket.

Actually I'm voting primarily on the issue of education, as I've mentioned before, but I've read analysis of both tax plans and still think Obama's would be the best.

I did hear a news segment on the tax rates and it stated that when Clinton had tax rates comparable to those proposed by Senator Obama were in place, the private sector added 2.6 million jobs a year. Under Bush, when tax rates comparable to those supported by Senator McCain were in place, the private sector added 400,000 jobs a year.

But I guess it doesn't matter, because all of eXcessive Force's neighbors have jobs.

[treelizard]

Short On Economic Understanding, McCain Brings Phil Gramm to Meeting
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At a recent meeting with the Wall Street Journal editorial board, Republican presidential candidate John McCain admitted he "doesn't really understand economics" and then pointed to his adviser and former Senate colleague, Phil Gramm - whom he had brought with him to the meeting - as the expert he turns to on the subject, The Huffington Post has learned.

The incident was confirmed by a source familiar with the proceedings of the meeting.

On the campaign trail, McCain has often made light of his lack of economic policy understanding. But his concern over such a shortcoming may be even greater then he has suggested.

This is not the first time McCain has turned to Gramm as a buffer for criticism of his economic views - or lack thereof. Gramm, who regards himself as a budget-balancing, anti-government spending Republican, was brought on board a sputtering McCain campaign last summer. Since then, McCain has staged a political recovery and is now a serious contender for the GOP nomination.

After joining the campaign, Gramm has remained by the candidate's side to "vouch for Mr. McCain's fiscal and security bona fides," according to the Dallas Morning News. Even prior to McCain's flop, Gramm was advocating on his behalf, writing a flattering February 2007 oped in the Wall Street Journal on his behalf.

During his 18 years in the Senate, Gramm helped spearhead the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which allowed commercial and investment banks -- like Citigroup-- to more easily merge. The Texas Republican ran for president in 1996, but dropped out prior to the New Hampshire primary, despite at one point having $25 million in the campaign coffers.

McCain and Gramm are two long-time colleagues, and Gramm shores up a political weak-spot that McCain readily acknowledges exists. In recent campaign stops the Arizona Republican touted his desire for a new round of tax cuts, as well as encouraging investment and economic stimulus by ending the alternative-minimum tax. But he also admitted that, "the issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." Adding, "I've got [former Fed Chairman Alan] Greenspan's book."

Even as far back as 2005, McCain was admitting that he lacked depth in economic policy. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, columnist Stephen Moore offered a probing and at times blunt assessment of McCain's economic policies. "[He] readily departs from Reaganomics," Moore wrote. "His philosophy is best described as a work in progress. He is refreshingly blunt when he tells me: "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

And to whom did McCain tell Moore he turns to for advise? "His foremost economic guru," wrote the columnist, "is former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm (who would almost certainly be Treasury secretary in a McCain administration)."

McCain's office did not return multiple requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal, as a company policy, does not comment on meetings that take place privately with their editorial board.

"People around the table were sort of taken back," said the source . "They thought McCain would have better answers."

[treelizard]

Honestly, I don't trust anyone's "economic knowledge" if they don't even know how many houses they own.

But honestly, McCain's "experience" indicates he should have known better than to be Bush's lapdog for the past eight years.

And same with foreign policy. The "experienced" McCain doesn't even have a clearly articulated idea about what to do with Iraq, whereas Obama's proposal have even gotten foreign approval. Obama sees Afghanistan as the front of the war on terror, while the "experienced" McCain doesn't. Obama says we need to wipe Al Qaeda off the map even if it means attacking Pakistan, McCain instead wants to continue with Bush policies that haven't really worked so well.

McCain also doesn't know how to use a computer, which I think is pretty embarrassing for anyone representing the country.

So the real question is, what good is McCain's experience if he doesn't have the balls to actually use it when it counts?

[treelizard]

McCain Admits He Doesn't Know How To Use A Computer (VIDEO)

[treelizard]

You can listen to it yourself:

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=E4D4EF61-18FE-70B2-A897C50223D7ECD3

Someone who doesn't know how many houses he owns isn't exactly in touch with the economic problems of average Americans.

[treelizard]

I will also point out that McCain has done quite a bit in government, whether he uses a computer or not, so he must be pretty efficient if he is not using one.

However you want to spin it...

[treelizard]

Not spinning it, I am saying that it does not appear to have hampered his ability to get elected, to introduce legislation, or to campaign.

First you said you wanted to see my sources for it. Maybe because you had a moment of reason and realized that it'd be pretty pathetic for someone to be running a country when they are an idiot and have to rely on their wife to read on a computer for them.

Maybe she will set up a blog so she can print more forged cookie recipes.

I thought it was funny when McCain was unaware his own campaign had a couple of blogs. He did say he wanted to check some things out on "a google."

[treelizard]

We have two millionaires running for president, I doubt either of them are in touch with the common man.

One of them turned down Wall Street to serve the common man. And one of them doesn't know how many houses he owns or how to use a computer. Hmmm.

[treelizard]

p.s. mccain hates mma

or he does when he gets money off of doing so

The John McCain UFC Conspiracy - MMARated.com

[treelizard]

MMA in 1995 was a bit different that what it is today.

So you're saying we need the government to regulate it?

And I'm sure Cindy McCain's millions have nothing to do with it. I mean, without being opposed to MMA, imagine what could happen. McCain might have so few houses he could actually keep track of them.

[treelizard]

I asked because as I stated, I had heard the attribution before but had not seen the source. I wasn't disputing he said it, I simply didn't know the context it was said in.

Yes, of course.