Should Gov. Palin have to repay money to the state?
See related story: Palin pays state for family travel
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:40 am and is filed under Politics / Government, State.
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June 24th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Palin put on a show of reimbursing the state for a TINY fraction the what she’s stolen from the state to travel her family around.
It’s already been published and undisputed that she went back and amended numerous expense reports by adding “and family” to invitations. Event sponsors have stated her family was NOT included but as usual…theft rules in Alaska!!!
June 24th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Yes. I don’t understand how she can be told to pay back the money, but then it wasn’t determined to be an ethics complaint.
Also, what happened to the Sealaska question? That was some entertaining mudslinging! They must have threatened to sue…
June 24th, 2009 at 6:22 am
Yes, Palin should reimburse the state for all costs. The travel
policies of the state are intended to provide reimbursement for
actual and necessary expenses incurred by travelers while on
official state business. No other employee of the state traveling on
state business is permitted to take their family with them at state
expense (although many would like to). In addition, if it were
permitted by state policy, it is most likely the IRS would consider
it as a benefit to the employee such that the value would taxable.
June 24th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Why should she need to pay, its the State of Alaska’s fault. The employees of that division should have known what is the State’s responsibility of paying for the Govenor’s travel and what she ought to pay for herself.
June 24th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Yes, of course.
btw, Juneauempire, please proofread the front page next Sunday or at least give it a quick glance just in case there’s a big error like last Sunday.
June 24th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Even if the SOA did not catch the illegality right away or if it was questionable and they let it pass, when it is discovered Sarah has to reimburse the state just like state employee’s do. If a state employee travels for his job and claims something he shouldn’t and it’s not caught right away, when it is, state employee pays, not the state! What I wonder about is, did she reimburse full fare for kids airplane tickets, and meals or did she just reimburse for pennies on the dollar in their ’settlement agreement’?
That she feels this sense of entitlement (that we Alaskans, should pay for her husband and children to help her do her job, and that we should pay for them to have a vacation) is just plain wrong.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Yes. Lucky for Alaska there is a procedure to call these people on their unethical behavior, whether it’s the governor, her babysitter, or chief of staff.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Douglas Diva
Hah, her family doesn’t help her do her job because she isn’t doing her job. Shes using money from our state to further her own gains. Why do people whine about how great a Vice President she would have been?!? She can’t even do a decent job as Gov. of Alaska but people think she would have been awesome as Vice Pres? Dear God, some people seriously need help down here.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:27 am
No one but her inner circle really knows what she was told about reimbursement and what she wasn’t, but at the end of the day who expects their place of employment to pay for their family’s travel? Is that really a reasonable expectation? Along the same lines, who really expects to take a job located in Juneau, and then charge the state a per diem because they would rather work out of their home in Wasilla than move to Juneau and live in the governor’s mansion that we built for people who hold that office. We already spent the money on housing for the governor, but she insists we spend more because she doesn’t like the arrangement the people of Alaska made for her. It’s a great conicidence that she makes moves like this when it comes to her, but when it comes to providing services to Alaskans she insists on cutting the Congressionally approved budget to prove she can, and won’t take stimulus money that will aid the Alaskan education system. Two words: Gravy train.
June 24th, 2009 at 11:27 am
YES!! YES!! and YES!!
June 24th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
kdreamer…how does that go…you can fool most of the people some of the time; you can fool some of the people much of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all of the time….is she trying to fool MOST of the people, MOST of the time? I think that is what is going on here….the drama continues and each day a new chapter…..
June 24th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
How stupid is this question anyway, if you or I as common citizens do something like this you know we’d be ordered to pay it back and we get to enjoy our wonderful judicial institutions too. Just proof that if your in office you’re above the law.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Perhaps she will be the next judge on “American Idol.”
June 24th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Absolutely she should have repaid the state. Unfortunately she felt entitled to use the opportunity to somehow establish a nexus to our armed forces, as if to ameliorate her transgressions.
Just pay what you owe and keep the yapper shut.
But alas, I digress.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
She is a horrible Governor.
She should ABSOLUTELY pay the state back for shuttling her family around the state when they aren’t a part of state business. I don’t want my tax dollars going to pay for her kids and hubby to hang out at a nice hotel and order room service while mommy might or might not be conducting state business.
PAY BABY! PAY!
June 24th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Yes, why not! Just because she is govenor doesn’t mean she is above the law! Besides that, it was reported that the “children”were not part of the invitation ~ where does she get off bringing the anyway! Sure she could have “afforded ” a sitter! Would have been cheaper!
June 24th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Of course she should. If a state employee had ripped off the state the way she has, THE EMPLOYEE would be required to reimburse and then scrutinized for every penny they spend from now on. I am just really happy that something has been done about that. I wonder what she got away with?
June 24th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Right on, Skyepapa Says. I totally agree! I also unequivioally submit that she should have to repay the state.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:59 am
you betcha she should pay it back, with interest. the seasoned staff in the gov’s office informed palin that there was no state purpose in her kiddie travel, but she just did not care, till caught that is. to go back and alter the travel authorizations to support kiddie travel seems criminal, to me. what do you expect for someone that draws perdiem to live at home in wasillabillyville.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:55 am
So im glad most of everybody agrees that she cant do her job and some thing is up with the government….
I mean does anyone pay attention? Legislators getting in trouble for stealing money from Alaska and get away with it.
Just the other day Legislators get attorneys paid by the state and released from jail, and all 15 or 19 of them get away with it ?
so Whats Alaska coming to these days? Government officals are higher than the law?
Alaska needs a new Hitler maybe a native to rid these evil in Ak……..
June 25th, 2009 at 6:06 am
Of COURSE she shouldn’t have to pay the State back! She’s the QUEEN!! Have you forgotten that? Queens don’t ‘pay things back’.
Silly little subjects.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Yes she should pay the state back for the travel expenses. Just as Obama should pay the tax payers back for his $350,000 photo shoot over the statue of liberty. As well as the cost of the planes and security for him and his wife to have their “date night” in New York. Or how about flying his family to Paris? Where is the outrage over this???
June 25th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Of course she should. She should actually reimburse the SOA for ALL of her kids travel. There is no benefit Alaskans receive from her hauling her kids around to every event she’s invited too. If the event wants the kids there so that Palin will accept, make the event pay for it, not the SOA.
Can’t wait for the days when we don’t have so much drama from a governor and that person goes about actually working at being the governor and not a presidential candidate!!
June 25th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Did everyone hear how she granted free Fishing and Hunting licenses to the members of that Alaska Army National Guard? Thats what she said, and they all got lovly applications for them back in January that they filled out…by the way, not a single member of the guard every recieved these promised licenses.
June 25th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Yeesh, I need to edit my own comments before I post them, talk about spelling errors
June 25th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Dan… obviously the outrage is yours over the Obama stuff… at least in this conversation
June 25th, 2009 at 11:41 am
whadayastupid
June 25th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Dan -
You ask “Where is th outrageover this?”
What’s the deal, is the Fox News channel blocked by the parental control in your mom’s basementTV ?
I’ll tell who needs to “pay back” is Jim Duncan. He was allowed to break the law, in taking his job with the AFSCME straight out of Commissioner of Admin. Of course he signed an agreement that he woud essentially not do the job of representing grievances against the state, but get paid the same wage by AFSCME to not do the job.
Isn’t post state employment what Bruce W. has beeen indicted for? His appeal is based on a premise that he did not violate underlying state law. Jim clearly did violate the Executive Branch Ethic Act, admitted to it in the agreement, and sold out representation of 8500 state employees. Don’t you think he should pay back his wages, perhaps even triple?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Well Dan, at least Obama actually lives in the Whitehouse that the taxpayers provided…
June 25th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
She should be able to travel with her family. A small fringe benefit of giving her time and effort. We support her in Texas and Alaska is lucky to have her.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Gov Palin is ONE of only 13 governors that actually balance their budgets. Of them, she is the only one that does it without taking away any services. Be thankful. To all the HATERS: TELL ME WHAT SHE HAS DONE WRONG !!!! ! !
June 25th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
MAKE A LIST. YOU ARE SIMPLY HATERS UNTIL YOU COME UP WITH SPECIFICS
June 25th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
You can have her, Albert.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Nothing about ‘hate,’ jono. She specifically took her family along on the state’s dime. She took per-diem living in her own house. Seems kind of like double dipping, which is not necessarily anything new to Alaskans.
But it’s definitely not part of the platform she campaigned on.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:12 am
How may travel trips has she made to rural communities in AK. I’d like to see her instate to villages, vs. NYC, Texas and now overseas!!!!! Likely to see her son but she’ll tag it on to our tax dollars and spin it to something.
What trip follows this–a visit ti S. Caroline to see her buddy, the governor of SC?! What a screwed up party!!! Shame on AK (us) for having such and unethical, stupid governor!!!
Albert in Texas, you can buy her one way ticket to your state if your state loves her so much!! Truly. Then we would not have to pay fpr her posturing and her electricity bill for a ‘tanning bed’ in the mansion!!!! She can have all the sun she wants down there!
June 26th, 2009 at 2:25 am
I expect her globe-trotting ways are just beginning as her term as goveror runs out and she prepares to become more visible as a 2012 POTUS candidate. Know that she will start to amp up her public apppearances, speeches, whining, complaining, dragging the family along, ignoring her own state. Problem is her cronies in the GOP are showing their true and tarnished colors and she’s being lumped in with them – Sanford and Terry for example…In another two years she will consider herself an authority on EVERYTHING, but still won’t be able to complete a sentence or coherently justify all that money spent on all those trips that made her become brilliant.
June 26th, 2009 at 5:22 am
Amen to El Evans above. You got it right.
June 26th, 2009 at 5:30 am
balance the budgets – juno are you lost? it is estimated that this year alone, to support palin’s level of spending we will need over ONE billion dollars from savings. balanced? as far as reduced services, why should there be – palin’s operating budgets have grown like a matvalley cabbage.
June 26th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Heck Albert, I’ll cough up some mileage for a one-way ticket. You can have her for free. Then you can carry out your threat to secede from the union and make her your queen.
Everybody wins!
June 26th, 2009 at 8:24 am
All these articles are strategically placed here so people will have a place to vent; generate and maintain the Anti-Palin readership. The Empire knows she is a capital move inthusist and builds on that.
Sarah should get some revenue from the Juneau Empire.
Lol
June 26th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Another day, another dollar. Whenever she chose to use the State’s money for uses other then what she needs them for, needs to be repayed. If she repays it, maybe we can get some upgrades on the roads in Alaska instead or we can keep the rural alaskan schools from closing down… that’s a whole other issue…
But yes indeed, she does need to repay what she has illegally stolen for her own personal gain.
June 26th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Yes. As an employee of the state, I’ve traveled on state dime before. We get 80% of our per diem before the trip. One time the trip got canceled, after I had already cashed the check. I had to pay every dime back.
SHE SHOULD TO.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
One bright spot….at least Gov. Palin didn’t go to Argentina on the state dime.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Hey, LOL….don’t EVEN suggest that SP receive revenue from the Empire for this question…..she’s probably JUMPED on that suggestion ALREADY…..(I can hear the ch-ching going off in that vacant head)…..
…besides why is this question being asked in the first place, ANY IDIOT or person with ethics and integrity SHOULD KNOW THAT that money should be repaid without question….but, alas, crime and politics pay……
June 26th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
No, LemonCreek, she went to SC on the state dime. Don’t you know…this philander is her new BFF. I think the good ol’ SC guv was dippin’ a little extra in Argentina AND Wasilla.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Y’all stop whinning! Y’all voted for her! We did not want that silly goose down here so we sent her right back to you. She is too silly! But she is smart enough to steal y’all money and thum her nose at you. By the way…I loved David Letterman’s joke. Your gov is the one who brought national spot light to it. How many of us saw that show??? Her skin is too thin! David and others told nightly bush jokes. If he chased after jokes like your gov did Letterman….He would not have time to do his job.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:59 am
lower48…we did not ALL vote for her.
El Evans…how can she ignore Alaska any more than she does already?
Remember June of last year when she was first mentioned as being on McCains short list? She stated then that she was not interested in national office because she had too much work to do in Alaska. Two months later she was introduced as his running mate. Do ya think that was because all her work here was done? I think she is a liar, she sucks as a governor, and Texas or any other state is welcome to her as long as they take the whole extended family (including the crazed lunatics who think she can do no wrong).
June 27th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Just wondering…is there STILL anyone from this state that thinks it would’ve been a good thing to have this person a heartbeat away from the presidency(and a feeble heartbeat at that)?
And is there still anyone here who thinks her party should try to put her in the White House in 2012?
If so…could you kindly tell us, “why do you hate America so much?”
June 28th, 2009 at 12:42 am
I think her party should make her their nominee for 2012. Most definitely.
June 28th, 2009 at 5:29 am
Mr. Erickson’s “MY TURN” in Sunday’s Empire is a good read: we all think SP talks from both sides of her mouth, he points out her hypocrisy….and is that who we want governing us…..”SP, you SAY one thing, and do ANOTHER, because of your ACTIONS, we can’t hear what you are SAYING”…..
June 28th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Unfortunately there is still that group of Right Wing Conservative Christian Fundamentalists that think she is wonderful.. How do get them to realize she is a person that speaks lies?
June 28th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Speaking of “balancing” the budget, how’s that multimillion dollar road to Nome coming along?
Or was that something Palin planned on the rest of US, namely we non-Alaskan U.S. taxpayers, paying for?
A road on permafrost that’ll have to be expensively repaired EVERY YEAR, unlike most roads we pay for.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Sarah? Is that you?
June 29th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Sarah Palin should certainly pay the state back and then find a different line of work. She has been a disgrace to our state.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Sarah Palin has been the most deceitful Governor our State has ever had and yes she should pay back the state.
I voted for her but will not again.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
you ARE ALL SHEEP GO AFTER THE BANKERS AND THE FED THEY ARE THE ONES WHO CONTROL YOU WITH THE ALL MIGHTY DOLLAR
June 29th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
OH WAIT WOULDENT WANT YOU TO MISS AMERICAN IDOL
June 29th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
WHAT ABOUT FRANK MURKOWSKI’S PLANE HMM TALK ABOUT PAY BACK LIKE $200,000LOST ON THAT WONDERFUL DEAL
June 29th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Sarah, it IS you!
June 29th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Of course she should pay back what she borrowed. Goes to show what migh go on behind closed doors. Look at our former lesgislatures…they got off with state money. It will never end. Politicians are nothing but liars, thiefs and crooks.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Let Sarah keep the money….BUT >>>Could Sarah Palin keep running presidental campaigns forever? Kind of like Wendell Wilke…Ralph Nader…Ross Perot… She could keep influencing election results for years to come. Kind of like Tom DeLay’s Permanent Republican Majority dream….in reverse.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Karen J-
Franm Murkowski was scheming on rails all the way to Russia with his friends that he was going to secede part of the ‘ donut hole’ on the Pacific Seabed to. Talk about Clinton’s out of country China campaign donaqtions, what was going on there if it wasn’t about money for his campaigns?
Only the insiders know. Maybe Jim Clark will be squealing once the DOJ gives him the Abu-Girab treatment. How about using those warerboard twchniques on the CBC. It would be a quick way to find out why Alaska is so messed up.
Foster kids watching their sibs beat to death and all…
June 30th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
John, you just need to shut up and chill out for a year or two.
July 1st, 2009 at 4:08 am
Great VAnity Fair article on Palin’s MO! Hits the stands but is available online. Huge article, titled, “It Came From Wasilla”. Two thumbs up and a must read! Bravo!!!
July 1st, 2009 at 7:41 am
I enjoyed the Vanity Fair article, too…I found it on the Huffington Post site. Also saw the Hardball interview on MSNBC with the VF editor who wrote the article. Interesting stuff, all. I have to wonder how she can keep fooling so many people into believing she’s the messiah. Keith Oberman read an email she had written where she signed her name God or The Creator, or something similar. By the way, where is she right now? Is she still entertaining the troops with her dazzling smile and witty repartee? Or is she back at her desk, doing what she’s paid to do? Nahhhh…
July 1st, 2009 at 8:13 am
I don’t think she should have to. Especially since she could beat the President in a long distance run.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:15 am
I don’t think she should have to. Especially since she could beat the President in a long distance run.
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:33 am
God help anyone who has the brass tacks to run for Gov. of Alaska. You all have been eating raw meat ‘waaaaaay to long. Who would want their kids to grow up in a caged animal atmosphere where any bone tossed in is fought over so savagely? It’s very easy to sit on one’s backside and chip away at the contention of the day, but in the long run, you all lose. If all of you could channel all this vehement sentiment into something constructive to help your state, Alaska could be a great state. (Read: We, the people). Until that day, you deserve anything and everything you reap from your hate.
July 18th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
We did channel it, Rod. And to great effect. Palin has resigned and our state is far better for it! You’re welcome to her. Good luck.