Records reveal Palin's push for earmarks

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC

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But musty records culled from the archives of the Wasilla, Alaska, city government reveal that Palin was directly involved in soliciting millions of dollars in earmarks for Wasilla when she was mayor. And she got help from a well-connected Washington lobbyist.

In a monthly status report to the city on March 7, 2000, newly hired "City Lobbyist" Steve Silver describes how the Palin administration had requested $6.6 million in federal earmarks for water and sewer improvements for Wasilla, and another $1 million for police equipment. Mayor Palin reviewed and signed the lobbyist's report, dated April 5, 2000.

Those earmark requests have not previously been disclosed, said Keith Ashdown, chief investigator for the non-profit Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group. Ashdown said the lobbyist's report offers a rare window into a normally closed-door process. "The document you've found is a peek behind the curtain of how earmarks get approved in Washington," he said.

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In Silver's April 2000 memo to Palin, he writes that he had spent the month of February making appropriations requests to Sen. Stevens, a proud distributor of earmarks to his homestate of Alaska. "I am very hopeful that a good funding package will be approved later in the year," Silver writes.

Silver also attaches the five-page letter he sent directly to Senator Stevens and his staff, requesting the federal earmarks. Silver breaks down why Wasilla, "one of the fastest growing communities in Alaska," needs federal help, and says the small town "has tremendous needs which the State of Alaska cannot meet."



Read more: http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/17/1413605.aspx

[BearSquirrel2]

1. Puke lawyers on the ground in Alaska ...

Palin is a nasty piece of work. They probably didn't know this before they chose her. Now they're trying to plug all the holes and keep information from the public.

[HopeHoops]

2. Question: If a $6m budget with 53 employees isn't "rocket science", why $20m in debt???

She definitely has the credentials to be a Republican leader - don't tax, just spend.

[kurtyboy]

3. So, ask yourself this

Why did Palin need to get earmarks from Uncle Sugar in a state where residents don't pay taxes, but get refunds from oil revenue ($3,200 per man, woman, or child last year)?

In Wasilla, the earmarks she took for the city work out to about $4,500 per citizen in federal money--higher even that the outrageous Alaska average of $295. Again I remind you that the state does not tax its citizens, it pays them.

Do the math--we in the lower 49 are paying Alaskans to get rebate checks. And Palin has been at the head of the line as Mayor, and only a place or two back as Governor.

Reformer, my achin' butt.

[Amonester]

4. "Remrofer" (reverse of Reformer)

The Palin drome is really a palindrome.