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"Sarah Palin's new book (
Going Rogue)reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time.
Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as
- a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime
- a reformer without ties to powerful interests
- a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition."
Sadly, she probably deludes herself into believing those, um...., fantasies.
Some specifics:
- Frugality With Taxpayer Money
PALIN: Says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers" hotels.
THE FACTS: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.
- Who Supported Her Campaign When She Ran For Governor
PALIN: Boasts that she ran her campaign for governor on small donations, mostly from first-time givers, and turned back large checks from big donors if her campaign perceived a conflict of interest.
THE FACTS: Her campaign funding came largely from Republican party committees, special-interest Political Action Committees (PACs) who gave the maximum allowed, and individual donors who likewise maxed out. She accepted donations from a politician AFTER he had been indicted on corruption charges.
- The Recent Federal "Bail-out"
PALIN:
- after the bailout: "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy."
- During the vice presidential debate in October, Palin praised McCain for being "instrumental in bringing folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout.
- After that, she said "it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in."
THE FACTS: In railing against taxpayer-financed bailouts - which she incorrectly attributes to Obama - Palin is blurring the lines.
- Obama's stimulus plan includes a $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and government contracts.
- Bush's plan — the federal bailout of the Wall Street firms that caused the financial meltdown — was the one that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed.
- History and Economics
PALIN: Says Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now, and "showed us how to get out of one. If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes and slay the death tax once and for all."
THE FACTS:
- the estate tax, which some call the death tax, was not repealed under Reagan
- capital gains taxes are lower now than when Reagan was president.
- economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse.
- the recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month
- the recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown
- in Reagan's recession, unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent
- in the current recession, in October 2009 , unemployment peaked at a high of 10.2 percent.
- Bidding For Government Contracts
PALIN: her team overseeing the development of a natural gas pipeline set up an open, competitive bidding process that allowed any company to compete for the right to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48.
THE FACTS: Palin characterized the pipeline deal the same way before an AP investigation found her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited a company with ties to her administration, TransCanada Corp. Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders during the process, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.
- Conflicts Of Interest
PALIN: Criticizes a conflict of interest because an aide to her predecessor aide represented the state in negotiations over a gas pipeline and then left to work as a handsomely paid lobbyist for Exxon-Mobil. Palin asserts her administration ended all such arrangements, shoving a wedge in the revolving door between special interests and the state capital.
THE FACTS: Palin ignores her own "revolving door" issue in office; the leader of her own pipeline team was a former lobbyist for a subsidiary of TransCanada, the company that ended up winning the rights to build the pipeline.
- Federal Funding
PALIN: Describing her resistance to federal stimulus money, Palin describes Alaska as a practical, libertarian haven of independent Americans who don't want "help" from government busybodies.
THE FACTS: Alaska is also one of the states most dependent on federal subsidies, receiving much more assistance from Washington than it pays in federal taxes. A study for the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that in 2005, the state received $1.84 for every dollar it sent to Washington.
- Some More:
as the mayor of Wasilla (AK), Palin
- pressed for a special zoning exception so she could sell her family's $327,000 house
- did not keep a promise to remove a potential fire hazard on the property.
- asked the city council to loosen rules for snowmobile races when she and her husband owned a snowmobile store
- cast a tie-breaking vote to exempt taxes on aircraft when her father-in-law owned one.
Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/11/13/national/w141351S39.DTL, which cites FACT CHECK.ORG
posted by Recovering Republican® © ™ #
11:41 AM