BECAUSE Lehman Bros. just mentally collapsed AND pay no attention to the billions to bail out Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac – those are just figments of your imagination.

YOU KNOW like that house that you used to own but can’t afford because your job of 15 years laid you off AND built a shiney new factory in Mexico. all brought to you by lax government regulation and supply-side economics, which we solemnly promise to continue, because we hate protec… um er i mean regulations.

OR how about the 4 point health care plan to nowhere with nothing?

up a creek without a paddle? well never mind that we are the party that sent you there faster than any other in history AND well here’s a toothpick – happy rowing buck up it’s just a flesh wound – just don’t bleed on me.

Sara! Sara! where art thou? Why do you keep saying to closed off Republican fans that you were against the Bridge to Nowhere? Even the right wing Press says you’re lying.

Let’s remember it’s McCain who is doing most of the lying. Sara’s just along for the beauty queen contest.

Republicans are still saying Obama is a Muslim and would take his pledges on a Koran.

Fine with me. Shall we go back to talking about the claim that Gov. Palin has made some 30 separate times now–that she “told the Congress thanks, but no thanks on that Bridge to Nowhere.”

That’s just an outright lie.

As long as the governor wants to paint herself as the champion of government wastebusters, she’s vulnerable on her expenses. I’ve already admitted (twice before and again right now) that she’s technically within the rules to claim M&IE while staying in her own house. Today’s WaPo article tells of previous Alaska office holders who have dealt with the same issue and judged it “a scam” to claim per diem when you’re at home.

And still nobody can explain what kind of “state business” little Piper conducted that required the state to reimburse Mom for her airfare.

“It was quite the little scandal,” said Tony Knowles, the Democratic governor from 1994 to 2000. “I gave a direction to all my commissioners if they were ever in their house, whether it was Juneau or elsewhere, they were not to get a per diem because, clearly, it is and it looks like a scam – you pay yourself to live at home,” he said.”

Yessiree! Bestest mavricky reformer evah!

I see idjits using a microscope trying to redefine the fine print, not realizing the building they are in is on fire.

I’m not outraged. I’m in the military. I travel frequently on orders and collect some form of per diem while away from home on military business. I have zero issues w/ any employee receiving compensation for expenses while travelling. I was simply trying to point out to those folks who seem desperate for something to hang Palin on (Quaker for instance) that you’re on the wrong track.

The per diem issue, in general, is a non-starter. Palin didn’t request reimbursement for travel (Wasilla is actually 42 miles from the government building in Anchorage) or for lodging; two entitlements for which she isn’t eligible since they’re within 50 miles of her residence in Wasilla. She requested M&IE, which according to AAM 60, para 60.250, she is was entitled to based on her primary residence being in Juneau.

So the question becomes, why did she need to spend 312 days away from the capitol when that is her nominal duty location? Were all 312 days required? How often did she claim M&IE for a day she stayed home lazing about?

Seriously Mr. Willis and his fellow travellers. Do a bit more research. The WaPo just fed y’all a nice little storyline which might be able to lead you to some petty corruption which was perfectly legal, and y’all can’t be bothered to see the forest for the trees. Who cares that she received less than the maximum allowed M&IE (she was allowed to claim up to $60 per day and only claimed an average of $55)? How was she serving the people of Alaska when she spent so much time away from the capitol and the body of government? How many times did important legislature bog down because the state’s chief executive was off tucking little Piper into bed at night and ignoring the grunting and moaning coming from Bristol’s room?

Y’all really need to do better than just throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what will stick since McCain has been drinking y’all milkshake for the past week and a half.

Sure. Both you and Farris have cited her drive from Wasilla to Anchorage as justification for the M&IE. It’s less than 50 miles.

Now as I said above, I’ll grant you that the rules say that she’s away from her “primary residence” when she’s in Wasilla, and by that measure, she’s eligible to claim M&IE travel reimbursement.

Doesn’t change the fact that she’s in her own house, traveling less than 50 miles each way to conduct most of her state business.

Living at home. Collecting travel money. Outstanding!
Young Bristol conducting “state business”? Really outstanding!

And once again, those travel guidelines you provided prove very helpful. For Alaska state employees, anything within 50 miles is “local travel.”

And? Is this supposed to mean something?

But reading it out of the Alaska state travel guidelines that you so helpfully provided does:

M&IE
Meals and incidental expense allowance. The portion of per diem that reimburses travelers for the cost of meals and necessary incidental expenses including tips, laundry expenses, and other personal costs of travel.

I don’t get reimbursed from where I work for any of my day to day travel and any money I might spend on meals. But guess what? If one day, I am told I have to drive to Orlando to do a presentation, the meter starts running on my per mile reimbursement the moment I drive away from my house. I also get reimbursed for any meals.

How nice for you. Here’s a question: How far do you have to travel before those rules kick in? 20 miles? 40 miles?

She’s driving 90 miles per day back and forth to her office in Anchorage and doing work there.
And once again, those travel guidelines you provided prove very helpful. For Alaska state employees, anything within 50 miles is “local travel.”

Travel expenses while living at home! Awesome!

Little Piper conducting state business? Awesomer!

SFC B, Anchorage has nearly 10X the population as does Juneau. Would you be just as outraged if you found out that Ed Rendell was expensing his time spent in Philadelphia?

I’m only defending it against your bullshit attacks. To whit:

So what it comes down to is this: If the state says Gov. Palin’s “primary residence” is the governors’ mansion, then she can claim the MSIE. If the state applies the definition of “where she conducts most business,” she can’t.

The fact is, her “duty station” as designated by the state is the Governors Mansion in Juneau. You left that out of your little ‘bold’ argument:

If a traveler maintains multiple residences, the commissioner of the department shall designate the residence that bears the most logical relationship to the traveler’s duty station as the traveler’s primary residence.

Now, unless you have other information, the governor’s mansion has been designated as her “primary resident.”

So, going back to the MSIE rules:

If a traveler maintains a dwelling at their destination (* in this case, the destination would be Wasilla) and it is available to them (* it is), they will be entitled to only an M&IE allowance for normal workdays. [* again which is precisely what she claimed) An M&IE allowance for other than normal workdays is not allowed.

Either way, she’s claiming “travel expenses” while staying in her own house.

Once again, she is not claiming “travel expenses” and repeating it doesn’t make it true.

Guess what Quaker? I don’t get reimbursed from where I work for any of my day to day travel and any money I might spend on meals. But guess what? If one day, I am told I have to drive to Orlando to do a presentation, the meter starts running on my per mile reimbursement the moment I drive away from my house. I also get reimbursed for any meals. Do you see how that works?

She’s driving 90 miles per day back and forth to her office in Anchorage and doing work there. Perhaps she’s buying lunch and maybe dinner depending on the time. Do you understand now? She’s not pocketing cash for sitting in her house. You’re flat out lying when you’re saying she’s claiming “travel expenses” while staying at her own house. It’s either that or you just don’t have a freaking clue what you’re talking about.

And here we have the misunderstanding which is at the heart of this particular issue. While she is the governor, her home is the governor’s mansion in Juneau. Alaska, like every other city, state, and federal agency, has some form of reimbursement when officials need to travel or conduct business away from home. The issues isn’t whether she was entitled to receive the per diem (she was). The issue would be why she needed to spend so much time conducting business in Anchorage instead of Juneau. Was she just milking the system by relocating her operations to another city that happened to be closer to home? Is this something which the governor of Alaska has always done? Is Anchorage, as the state’s largest city and centrally located to the population, a better place to do perform her duties?

People seem to be getting too tied up in the details of “ZOMG!!11!!!! She got money to be at home!”, when that is perfectly legal, and an issue most business travellers understand, and not asking the question of “Why the hell was she there in the first place?”

Good job, Farris!

Edwards $400 out of his own pocket is just as bad as $50 (times 312) of taxpayer money into Gov. Palin’s pocket!

Travel expenses to live at home! Mavericky!

Again, these are not “at home” per diem expenses. She drove from Wasilla to Anchorage where she conducted much of her work during that time. If she were taking per diems to sit in her house all day, I could see the point, but she didn’t. From the calculations I’ve seen and I’ve done, she’s reduced such spending by that of her predecessors by something like 80%. Spending the equivalent of less than $10 for each of those 312 days per family member (remember, she could have charged per diems for each family member that accompanied her on official business but didn’t) is not something to get worked up over.

The Post has tried to turn this into a ’scandal’ where none exists.

Oh man. You’re going to defend this petty expense-account padding all the way, aren’t you?

WashPo:

The popular governor collected the per diem allowance from April 22, four days after the birth of her fifth child, until June 3, when she flew to Juneau for two days. Palin moved her family to the capital during the legislative session last year, but prefers to stay in Wasilla and drive 45 miles to Anchorage to a state office building where she conducts most of her business, aides have said.

She “conducts most of her business in Anchorage”? Why is that important?

If a traveler maintains multiple residences, the commissioner of the department shall designate the residence that bears the most logical relationship to the traveler’s duty station as the traveler’s primary residence. Factors to be considered in determining the primary residence include: the time ordinarily spent performing duties at each location; the degree of business activity at each location; the relative amount of state wages earned at each location. Agencies may also contact the Division of Finance for assistance.

And then:

An authorized trip ends when:
-A traveler returns to the normal work location during normal work hours; or
-a traveler returns to the residence if the trip ends outside normal work hours; or
-a traveler accepts voluntary denied boarding compensation. Refer to AAM 60.080 Interruption or Deviation of Travel for Traveler Convenience.

So what it comes down to is this: If the state says Gov. Palin’s “primary residence” is the governors’ mansion, then she can claim the MSIE. If the state applies the definition of “where she conducts most business,” she can’t.

Either way, she’s claiming “travel expenses” while staying in her own house.

And we haven’t even gotten into what sort of “state business” her kids were performing when she charged the state for their airfare.

Thanks for clearing that up, Jay. Now what did the kiddies do for that?

Oliver’s post is a reference to a story that appeared on Page 1 in the WaPo. You’re not saying that the Washington Post is a de-facto arm of the Obama campaign, are you? Are You?!?

And for the record, I’m of the opinion that
A) there’s probably nothing TRULY incriminating to be found in Biden’s per diem diaries.
B) Per diem expenses, unless outrageously flagrant, don’t really matter when it comes to picking a candidate.

Oh sure, it’d be nice to know whether Amtrak Joe is riding in coach or Acela class every night. And I’m sure that during his 30 years in Washington, he’s expensed a trip or two to Ruth’s Chris when Bennigans would have done just as well. But these are minor triffles.

And sorry, but Palin’s $50 a day doesn’t pass the “outrageously flagrant” test. A certain recent Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate spent more than that per day … on his hair!