Congressman Launches Inquiry into Cost of Sarah Palin's Tour

[kpete]

Source: ABC

Sarah Palin is set to tour national monuments around the country this summer, and one congressman wants to know how that will affect everyone else.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) sent a letter to the National Park Service today asking how federal resources were used for the northeast leg of Palin’s “One Nation Tour,” which traveled from Washington, D.C. to New Hampshire last week. His concern: press accounts of the tour “which provided personal and political benefits to former Gov. Palin, suggest that National Park Service resources were made available to an extent beyond that which an average American family would receive.”

“I opened my paper this morning to hear about cutbacks in state parks around this country,” Blumenauer told ABC News. “We have a serious backlog of maintenance in the National Park Service. And it looks like Sarah Palin’s little political cavalcade gets this amazing VIP treatment – I’m scratching my head. If it’s a private family vacation, what in the world are we doing getting people in with preferential early admission and having an entourage of public employees? It looks like a political stunt, and Palin Inc. ought to pay for it.”

Palin was surrounded by park rangers and, at times, police officers during her tour stops. Last Wednesday, she and her family were accompanied by approximately 10 authorities as they toured the Statue of Liberty.

Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/06/congressman-launches-inquiry-into-cost-of-sarah-palins-tour-.html

[Drale]

1. I wonder if any Rangers refused to do anything related to Sarah Palin

I know a few, who would never allow themselves to be used by Palin.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LiberalFighter]

16. That would be difficult to do with all of the witnesses.

Now if they were to arrange a private tour in the middle of the night and no one else knew of the tour. That would be different.

[Cracklin Charlie]

19. Attention hog

Just tell her that there is a microphone at the end of the slot canyon or rocky promontory. She's there!

[SugarShack]

33. Where is the money coming from for any of it? Is it her own? There is no campaign account.

[obxhead]

37. I believe sarahpac is paying the tab.

[rsmith6621]

3. So They Think of Sarah as a MOVIE STAR....

...I say BS...Jolie is a UN Ambassador.

[PatrynXX]

12. Paris Hilton is better than Sarah Palin in IQ

by far.

[SemperEadem]

31. well, Michael Jackson is dead after all.. I guess she feels the need

to be a manufactured "star" to fill that void. :eyes:

[TrollBuster9090]

4. I wonder if the Park Police will arrest her for "blathering without a permit" in front of Jefferson?

[nilram]

23. really, talk about disrespectful!

[TrollBuster9090]

24. Seriously, if they arrested Kokesh and the flashmob for dancing

without a permit in front of the Jefferson memorial, classifying it as a "demonstration," will they give the same treatment to Palin when she starts giving a paid political ad for the GOP?

I can just imagine her blathering on about how "Jefferson freed the slaves, and wrote the Constitution (with the help of William Daniels), and fought those French, and then killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel over the role of big gubmint vs. states rights..."

[shoeless]

35. 2nd Amendment

Oh, I thought Thomas Jefferson rang his bell and shot Alexander Hamilton to warn him to not try to take away our arms.

[Angry Dragon]

5. Pigs at the trough

[Blacksheep214]

6. Send her a bill

Did she even pay to enter the parks?

Did everyone in her party pay?

If not, she is stealing from the American taxpayers she so vociferously defends.

If you see her whitewater rafting down the Colorado you know she is skipping the year long waiting list!

[southernyankeebelle]

8. Well you know they say she is a real bad tipper. That is why they call her the GRIFTER.

[icarusxat]

47. bad tipper? try bill gates

first hand knowledge can be such an ugly thing

[wordpix]

7. ugh, these park employees should be out patrolling for poachers, thieves & idiots leaving campfires

burning, and not giving Palin et al. the VIP treatment. :puke:

[jberryhill]

10. I don't know about Boston

But in Philadelphia, the poaching and campfire problems are well in hand.

[PuffedMica]

44. They need to keep an eye on her in case she tries to steal something

[Blacksheep214]

9. I would introduce Palin to

SMOKEY! Then I would leave them alone for a while.

So Sarah, I hear you like helicopters.....

[PatrynXX]

11. Backbone State Park in Iowa looked like a ghost town 1 week before memorial day.

Grass was horrid, They really weren't there, simply left the key in the cabin. and yes grass overgrown there. One cabin was shuttered. (A CCC cabin. don't know what was wrong with it. :( ) 005 was shut. we were in 006. Park has seen far better days was one of the best parks in the state a year ago. Right now, not so good.

[MikeMc]

13. Yay!

[dotymed]

14. Just like pre-Russian fall.

The politburo and its' wannabes are raping the small budgets "their kind" have imposed.

The Queen of England says "she is nuts."

:wtf:

[Beartracks]

20. Britain's Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, also thinks she's nuts, I hear. n/t

[TwistedF8-]

32. "Britains Reagan" ((: Hahaha

Yes, it was the old bag Thatcher that refused a meeting.... It went something like this.

Twatlin: "I am going to Sudan in July and hope to stop in England on the way. I am just hoping Mrs Thatcher is well enough to see me as I so admire her."

Twatcher Adviser:"Lady Thatcher will not be seeing Sarah Palin. That would be belittling for Margaret. Sarah Palin is nuts."

[Beartracks]

48. "Twatlin" LOL n/t

[SemperEadem]

34. spalin has no diplomatic standing to warrant an audience with the Queen

she's just another loud mouth chick from america with a bunch of kids and an imbicile for a husband.

Besides, it was thatcher who allegedly said that.

she's not an elected official and when she was, she turned her back on her duty and went chasing after money and reality star fame.

[bluestateguy]

15. How do you do a real investigation as a member of the minority party?

No subpeona power, you can't call hearings; you are pretty much left to pounding the table and holding press conferences.

Remember those John Conyers hearings into the Downing Street Memo? Yeah, neither does anybody else.

[barbtries]

26. i do

in the basement as i recall.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. What will Breitbart try to uncover about this congressman?

[Historic NY]

18. Send her a bill and a history book.

[lunatica]

30. Make that an American History for Dummies

It's easier to read. Or even better, send her the cliff notes.

[DeadEyeDyck]

21. If this could be point back to the tax-payer it could get some

traction. Otherwise, non-starter/

[chollybocker]

22. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[laconicsax]

25. Hey, that's my rep!

Way to go!

[liberal N proud]

27. If she is not a candidate and the tour is not an official tour

Why is she getting all the tour guides and escorts?

Do they not trust her near the landmarks?

If I go to the Statue of Liberty and want a tour, I have to pay for it myself.

[Hubert Flottz]

28. The Freeloaders are trying to make America fail.

She's "Entitled"...One of WV's former governors ended up driving a taxi in Chicago and he finished his term. Make her pay just like you and I pay.

[Shining Jack]

29. K&R

What a freak.

[L. Coyote]

36. OregonLive has this: ... "serious concerns about the use of federal resources ... "

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/06/blumenauer_asks_park_service_i.html

Tuesday, June 07, 2011, By Charles Pope, The Oregonian

WASHINGTON -- Suggesting that Sarah Palin's recent tour of historic sites was anything but a low-cost family get-away, Rep. Earl Blumenauer on Tuesday asked the National Park Service if it extended extra services to a private citizen.

He also demanded that Palin should reimburse the government any additional cost caused by her high-profile visits to Gettysburg, Independence Hall, Fort McHenry and other iconic sites on a swing along the Northeast last week.

"I am writing with serious concerns about the use of federal resources in conjunction with the 'One Nation' partisan political tour conducted by former Gov. Sarah Palin," Blumenauer said in a letter to Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis. ........................

[toddwv]

38. My sources say that the charges could easily add up to $200,000,000,000

per day.

It's gotta be true, I read it in an email/blog/forum.

[JJW]

39. Why is she touring un-America?

Perhaps her husband, the secessionist is gathering concepts for a new Revolution.

[Beavker]

40. She was probably scouting for the Big Game

to hunt once the GOP sells all of our National Parks to the Koch brothers.

[Love Bug]

41. It's a fair question!

Why should she, or any other celebrity for that matter, get the kind of preferential treatment reserved for government officials? If she were a declared candidate, her campaign fund would have to cover this, right?

Typical republican hypocrisy. They complain about "Welfare Queens" driving cadillacs yet they have no problem whatsoever pigging out at the public trough.

[Taverner]

42. Well, considering Sarah is a vindictive, mean, stupid, narcissistic, manipulative grifter...

I assume she thinks America "deserves her" and should be happy to pick up the tab for her

According to her, from all reports, she really does think all of America LOVES her and thinks she's 'America's Sweetheart'

[HopeHoops]

43. I'm sure the BimboPAC can cover the costs.

[Reader Rabbit]

45. That's my congressman!

Go, Earl, go!

[Boudica the Lyoness]

46. I remember when she was on her book signing tour

a few years ago she visited a military base. She was pretty much campaigning on an base and normally that is not allowed. But they are forced to listen to Rush Limpdick, and so have been brain washed.