Palin Complained About Per Diem Costs...Of Legislators

[Joanne98]

I guess we've got a new acronym to work with....IOKIYASP. In 2007, Sarah Palin ripped state legislators for holding a special session in Anchorage because...get this...she thought the costs of per diems were ridiculous.

Now this sort of hypocrisy isn't that unusual for a politician, and I'm not exactly outraged or anything, but the point is that Sarah Palin is just another hack. Nothing special.

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/09/palin-complained-about-per-die.html


What the heck *are* they charging Alaska for?

by kos

Tue Sep 09, 2008 at 09:05:18 AM PDT

More on Sarah Palin's great scam of the state of Alaska, charging the state of Alaska for "travel" expenses while staying at home, all while making a big show of "saving taxpayer money" by getting rid of her private chef (all mooseshit, of course).

From the Anchorage Daily News, 7/29/2007, via Lexis/Nexis:

"Holding a special session in Anchorage last month cost the state at least $103,500, according to the head of the Legislative Affairs Agency.

Criticized for adjourning the regular session without renewing a program that gave cash payments to low-income seniors, legislators called the one-day meeting on June 26 <...>

Legislators earned a per diem of $278 each. The money is meant to be used on meals and hotels, she said, and is a little more than legislators would get in Juneau.

Holding the session in Anchorage costs about $2,000 more per day for per diems, which are based on rates set by the federal government, she said.

The overall price tag struck Gov. Sarah Palin as too high.

"That makes absolutely no sense, that a seven-hour meeting costs our Legislature over $100,000," Palin said. "What the heck were they charging the state for then?"

Yeah! What were they charging the state for? Were they living at home, yet squeezing travel expenses out of it? Were they bringing the whole family down to Anchorage on the government's dime? Were they staying in $707 per night hotels?

It's important those questions get answered, otherwise, this episode will start to look suspiciously like ... hypocrisy. I know, I know, this is all hard to believe given that she eats mooseburgers and chose life, but there it is.

This episode may just have bought Sarah Palin another two weeks of isolation from the media.

::
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/9/2059/06334/58/591846

[renate]

1. I like that acronym, IOKIYASP n/t

[LiberalFighter]

2. Palin is ef n wrong again. Per Diems are not required by law.

The key is that they are not required.

The IRS only provides rulings on what is acceptable when they are used.