Sarah Palin, the John McCain "Maverick cougar", bills the state of Alaska for nights she spends in HER OWN HOME.

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.

John McCain, and his new female sidekick, have worked hard to steal Barack Obama's message of "change" and make it their own. Which on the face of it seems patently ridiculous.

John McCain is so closely connected to George W. Bush since 2001 that they might as well be finishing each others sentences. And the only real change that Palin has brought to Alaskan politics is a complete disregard for the truth. I mean we all know that politicians lie, but Sarah Palin has elevated it to a complete lifestyle choice.

And now we see more evidence that Palin is not only mendacious, but she is also completely bereft of any integrity. How does somebody justify charging the state for the inconvenience of staying in her own home? And how does it seem reasonable to ask the state to pay for airfare to allow you to take your children with you while you conduct state business?

So how does Palin's spending compare with past Governor's?

Well her predecessor was Frank Murkowski (Yes the same Frank Murkowski whose jet Palin lied about selling on e-bay). Governor Sarah has spent $93,000 on airfare, while Murkowski spent a whopping $463,000 per year. But let us not forget that Frank Murkowsi was one of the "Three Bandido's" of Alaska politics, which included Don Young and Ted Stevens, who treated Alaska like a giant personal piggy bank. And remember that Stevens is currently under indictment and Young is just waiting for the other shoe to drop on him.

But if you go one more Governor back you get to Tony Knowles who weighs in on this subject with the following:

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.

And just for clarification, Tony Knowles NEVER charged the state for nights he spent in his own home.

(I have to give a tip of my hat to Mudflats who stayed up late to get the scoop on this story.)