Posted on 09/09/2008 8:17:36 AM PDT by Yankee Sailor
The internet is abuzz with the story of Gov. Palin's per diem payments for living at home. Here are the numbers from the MSNBC story:
Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance [for 312 days], which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post.
I've collected that much money on federal travel in a third of the time--she only got $54 per day.
Anyway, here';s the bottom line: how much did the state save in salaries of employees that no longer had to maintain the residence at the governor's mansion? I bet Alaskans kept three or four times what they paid Gov. Palin in the personal chef's salary alone. Never mind the plane and its air crew. Sounds like a bargain to me.
I suppose politicians and the media are entitled to try and make hay anywhere they like, but I wonder how much per diem those Washington Post reporters are getting while they're digging dirt in the wilds of Alaska. I bet it's a whole lot more than $54 per day.
I am waiting for the msm to do an equally picky anal exam of Joe Biden’s finances for the past 30 years. I’ll bet there would be considerably more cash involved.
“I am waiting for the msm to do an equally picky anal exam of Joe Biden’s finances for the past 30 years. I’ll bet there would be considerably more cash involved.”
Ohhhh yeahhhhhh.... I am CERTAIN of it. However, don’t hold your breath.
I think the entire Congress should follow the example of Governor Palin and the esteemed Senator Kennedy. Stay at home. In this day of computer technology, each Senator and Representative could communicate and vote by e-mail, meeting technology software, etc. Instead of the people sending their representatives to a convenient place for the leeches and other lobbyists, they could have their representative in their own state, available to them. The lobbyists would have to make very public trips to wine and dine them. In public. In front of the voters.
Whatever an anal exam of Joe Biden cost... it ain’t enough!
If Biden rides Amtrack every day and expenses it, I wonder how much that adds up to?
Millions of government employees collect per diem allowances all the time for their travel. If they were not legitimate claims, they would be denies. I can’t believe the Washington Post is trying to make an issue of this minutia. The Post presents this in a way to make a normal reimbursement look cynical.
I believe I saw $222 per day.
This Palin stuff is peanuts and there are many things she could have expensed but didn't bother to. She spent way less than her predecessor. The Rats will have to try again although the media will certainly try to make this cut.
One day a tax auditor tried to make a big deal out of it. Accounting called our corporate lawyer. He called a buddy in the tax office. I don't know who said what to whom, but we never saw the little pissant again.
The numbers posted in the article works out to $54. A higher number would have to include other expenses like flights and hotels.
Good grief Charlie Brown! I got that much per diem in 1986.
This isn’t to knock Governor Palin, but your premise may be flawed.
It is doubtful the Governor’s Mansion was shut down while she was staying at home. The mansion would have continued to have needed maintenance, cleaning, etc. What savings there were from her absence would have been due to her personal expenses, meals, etc., which may have been more than the per diem being paid while she stayed in Wasilla.
His last colonoscopy revealed a previously undiscovered grey matter in the colon. A more exhaustive exam proved it to be brain tissue. Read about it in the latest medical journals.
Sorry, AlwaysRight, I was responding to MarkeyD’s wondering what Biden’s Amtrak ride cost.
When you figure the cost of living, her salary of 125K is peanuts compared to the lower 48- and $54/per diem- you can’t eat three decent meals a day on that! The officials said what she collected was OK. so where’s the problem?
Just another MSM BS story- pathetic!
If she got that much accomplished staying home 312 days just think what she could do living in Washington for 365 days!
The issue is that her duty station was in Juneau and that she was working on the road. If she’d been in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Barrow or some other city/town, then she’d have gotten travel/perdiem because her duty station is Juneau.
When she is in Wasilla, she’s not at her duty station.
The $55 would not cover housing. She was charging for food on the road.
Why would she feel justified in charging food but not board while on the road?
My guess is that she was conducting meetings both in local restaurants and in her own home.
Just a guess.
The current round trip fare to ride the Amtrak Acela train is $320 round trip between Washington DC and Wilmington, DE in first class.
Don’t the American taxpayers pay almost $50,000 week for Nancy Pelosi’s private jet flights between DC and her San Francisco home when Congress is in session?
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