Sick of paying full price for an airplane seat your kids never stay in anyway? Become governor of Alaska, and all that will disppear. The state's taxpayers have paid more than $21,000 in travel expenses for Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's kids to travel to spots they weren't even invited.
The Associated Press has reported Palin not only charged the state for her three daughters to accompany her on a trip to watch First Dude Todd Palin in a sled dog race, but she amended expense reports to make it look as though her kids were on official business.
Organizers of a number of the events say the kids were not only not invited, but never took part in the activities. On one report, Palin's daughters' supposed duties were listed as "to draw two separate raffle tickets" at a January gala in Anchorage. Was this because the governor's two hands were too full of BS to pull two separate tickets herself?
Trips across the state were the lesser of the evils. A total of 64 one-way and 12 round-trip airfare tickets have been charged to the state - not for the governor (who sold the state's gubernatorial jet to "save" money), but for her kids. One trip to New York City with eldest daughter Bristol apparently cost the state $1,385 for plane tickets to and from LaGuardia airport for the two Palins plus $707 a night for four nights at a luxury hotel overlooking Central Park. Four nights - and all the governor did was spent five hours at a conference. (In all fairness, she also met with Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg and toured the New York Stock Exchange on the trip, which must have taken up, oh, another day out of the four, at least).
Palin's predecessor, former governor Tony Knowles, had school-aged kids when he was in office too. He says he never found a reason to take them with him on state business and never charged the state for their expenses.
I agree parents should try as much as possible to fit their kids into their work schedules so the kids don't get the short end of the stick. She could have packed their bags and paid the bill, and this wouldn't be a problem. Buthere's a difference between bringing them along and amending reports to make it look like they belonged there.
That's what they call fraud - which Governor Palin apparently doesn't approve of in the ballot box, but doesn't have a problem with in the governor's office.
Image: Policelink
Source: MSNBC
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