Governor Grifter... Again.

Oh, Governor Grifter....again.

Today Sarah Palin has disclosed previously omitted free trips, adding them to her financial disclosure forms. Hey, what's the big deal...she took those trips almost two years ago.

According to the Associated Press, "One of the trips, the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute of North Carolina - a nonprofit education policy group - paid the $2,827 cost of Palin's April 2007 flight and hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona, to attend a four-day conference."

So, who the ham and cheese is James B Hunt Jr.? Why was he sending our Governor on a trip in April 2007? Well, he's a former North Carolina Governor who was concerned enough about education that he set up a policy group. Here's their mission statement:

In order to provide all students with an equitable chance to succeed and to foster a high quality of life for all citizens, the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy cultivates state leadership that focuses on public education's value and actively promotes the fundamental role of governors to instill and protect the ideals of democracy.

So, even after 4 days of resorting in Scottsdale, Palin didn't do jack crap for education in Alaska. Was there a test? A quiz? Apparently not. New reports show Alaskan students are less likely to graduate from high school than other states. In fact, Alaska's drop out rate is double the US average. I'm glad she reported -- albeit nearly 2 years late -- her "gift trip," but Mr. Hunt Jr. really should get his money back. In the 2008 budget, Governor Palin vetoed $479,000 for "Drop-out Prevention Programs."

A month later Palin, her daughters and her former deputy campaign treasurer were put up for free at the Mt. Chilkoot Lodge in Skagway, Alaska. The rules state you must report any gifts within 30 days. Well, Sarah has been late reporting multiple "gifts." A June 30, 2007 trip for Piper and herself valued at $1,187. An April Republican event in Texas...oh, yes, the same one she went in to labor at the next year... valued at $4,620 with a cowboy boot bonus worth $1,000.

My goodness, what will she do? Nothing. Poor Bill McAllister, her spokesman, under a deep and drippy spell, has once again defended his boss. Because the reports have been corrected, it is irrelevant on how the errors were detected. It's not her fault! It was the mistake of her staff.

We'll just put this on the list of mistakes that aren't Sarah Palin's fault.

The list: Troopergate was about a dangerous renegade brother-in-law; Walt Monegan was "insubordinate;" Charlie Gibson's interview was full of "gotcha" questions; Katie Couric was just mean and condescending; the shouts of "kill him" and "terrorist" at her rallies were the fault of Bill Ayers; Wardrobegate was the fault of the McCain Campaign; losing the election wasn't her fault, it was George W. Bush and the economy; Gobblegate was the fault of a cameraman ; another late "gift" disclosure, the fault of her staff.

Comments

[glake]

I was so sad when the campaign was over. Who would be watching all the Sarahnanigans and keep us up to date?

Then I stumbled upon Shannyn Moore. I haven't had so much fun reading a true writer/reporter/journalist keeper of the collective conscience since Mike Royko died.

Thanks, Shannyn.

[friscosf]

Forgetting to list gifts ?
Isn't that what got Ted Stevens indicted ?
Isn't that what got Ted Stevens convicted ?

Is that the 'Alaska way' ?
Don't list your gifts until they catch you ?
(and don't eat the yellow snow)

A little PR shuffle will cure this, I suppose

[Leedox]

Everyday I watch the price of oil I think how great it is for my budget and how BAD it is for Palin because now she will actually have to do her job. Did someone say schadenfreude? You betcha!

[LightningJoe]

Sarah Palin: the gift that keeps on giving, er, taking.

Seriously, the challenge for us Progressives is how to keep her from self-destructing before 2012; because there's no one I'd rather see any progressive candidate run against, than the Moose Queen. She's so clueless she'd make it a shoe-in for the progressives.

Of course we've got to put up with her and work around her until then...

[Salome]

One of my favorite things about this whole Sarah Palin shell game is that I've gotten to read blogs and articles by some very cool folks up there in Alaska, e.g. you, AK Muckraker, most Alaska Dispatch contributors. Keep up the good work.

We're definitely hoping that you end up with a better governor in 2010. And . . . even though it sounds catty and petty and ungrateful, I really hope that Sarah Palin falls flat on her face, politically. It has been fascinating and horrible to learn that so many assertions in Palin's stump speeches were blatantly false. She is aggressively ignorant, mean-spirited, and seemingly incapable of displaying any signs of humility or gratitude.

Feel free to come on down to visit us in California if you need a break from the winter and . . . her.

[ralph10]

Be careful. There will be a poster on here soon who will be awful upset that your talking about Sarah that way.

[mamaboulet]

Eventually her blame list will include every single living (and non-living) thing in the world. I'll betcha every member of her family knows not to cross Sarah. Who remembers that interview with her parent(s)? Daddy sounded like his Sarah, big on rationalization and bs. Mom....well, mom didn't say much (anything?). It reminds me of that old Twilight Zone episode in which the mean little kid with special powers would zap people into the cornfield if they crossed him. I think in the new version he took away his sister's mouth. Gee, why does that remind me of Sarah? And what kind of pact did Sarah's sister make with her to get Sarah to pursue the ex for all eternity? Sarah doesn't work for free. Sis paid. Maybe she just paid with her silence. She won't spill the beans on Sarah even if Sarah plows her way to power and blows up the world.

[WilliePilgrim]

Palin could do all that and whole lot worse as long as, to paraphrase the famous line emblazoned over Spenard's favorite watering hole, she "cheats the other guys and passes the savings on to you". I think she's gonna find even Todd's vast expereince in the oil field services industry is not going to help her send an extra $1200 to every man, woman and child in the state next year. As a matter of fact I wonder when the people who recieved those checks wonder why the price of a barrel of oil has sunk to 1/3 of its price just a few months ago, but the cost of fuel in the villages and even in Achorage are still way above where you'd think they'd be, and the state's budget is back where it was when Tony Knowles was doing a admirable job and making difficult decisions with a constrained budget.
The pendulumn swings both way, and the chickens will come back to roost, I trust Alaskan's wont soon forget all that she's done for the Great Land.

[HollyP]

I think it will be turkeys that come home to roost with Governor Palin.

[marrig]

Aren't the people of Alaska on to this woman by now?

[kwalters]

Yes, but she has hardly been here since she lost. AND...our legislative session doesn't start until January. We'll see then whether our legislative council has the kahunas to enforce penalties for violating ethics laws and ignoring subpoenas. I'm guessing they don't. They'll use the excuse of the economic meltdown to just move along and ignore the lawbreaking grifter that is Sarah the Palin.

[IcyAlaskan]

Narcissists never accept the blame for anything.

Those of you who grew up with Sarah...keep posting. I know three people who went to school with Sarah, and the stories they tell make me wonder how she ever got elected as an assembly woman, much less the Governor.

[clamperken]

Exactly correct. And Sarah Palin is the worst of the worst. I have yet to hear her admit even one single fault. She blames others for her mistakes and takes credit for others accomplishments. Just another empty head with nothing but her sophmoric winks and amatuerish flirting to get what she wants. The real problem is she actually believes she is somebody special.

[coloradodreaming]

I have a perfectly normal older sister who thinks Sarah is a great spokeswoman for the GOP. I now know why our mother could never figure out why we didn't get along. If you try and talk truth to these people you might as well be talking to a wall. Is their party so bad that people like Palin and Rove are considered the standard bearers? Oh well, what the hell, I have Barack and the dreams of a better world. Can't spend time any longer listening to anyone either on the phone, radio or TV spouting hatred because there are too many important changes coming. Let them wallow in their excuses and lies while the real change is being made in our country. May 2009 bring the light to the world that we all should be wanting instead of the dark cellar we have been living in for 8 years.

[denholt]

I also have a few family members who are Palin fans. Although I love them dearly, they are all people who favor style over substance and they always have. It seems that most GOPers are similarly afflicted. We need only look back on the time frame from January 20, 2001 to the present to see where this voting philosophy has taken us.

[Freesia2]

Woman to woman, Shannyn? We both know who this woman is. Other women here do too. We went to highschool with her. She'll go as far as she can for as long as she can get away with it. She's having the time of her life.

[kitchenwitch]

Palin has struck me from the very beginning as a consummate BS artist. There are just too many contradictions. Small-town woman, but big-town spender being about the least of them.
I was amazed at an interview back in September or October in which one of her friends said, "She's as honest as the day is long." How? How can someone actually believe this?
I've always wondered what people who really know her - who grew up with her, went to school with her - really think. Thanks for posting this. I hope you'll keep posting.

[wiseraven]

She is as honest as the winter days in her beloved Alaska...

[Freesia2]

kitchenwitch (I like your name ) You don't have to hope. I'm addicted to posting. I wonder if there's a 12-step program I should be in. "Hello I'm Freesia and I'm a Postaholic" :-)

[janet1003mn]

Well said and amen, Freesia2. My college friends and I (all the same age as Sarah Palin) have discussed her ad nauseum (literally) and we all agree that she is the consummate "mean girl," the girl long on looks and animal cunning, but short on actual intelligence and almost altogether without kindness and decency, who will lie to, use and manipulate others for her own personal goals and/or amusement.

I, for one, would love to see Shannyn do a really deep dig on Sarah Palin: The College Years. It's been my experience that "mean girls" only pick up and move when something goes very, VERY wrong for them. Otherwise, they dig in their heels, coronate themselves the queen bee and set about cultivating the naive and/or sycophantic to fawn over them and do their bidding. I smell the slightest whiff of a scandal there and I suspect if it's ever uncovered, even her hardest of hard-core supporters would run from the stink.

[ThinkCreeps]

It's going to be hard to chronicle the college years. So many colleges, so little time. (Also, mostly colleges where literacy is a requirement for neither matriculation nor graduation.)

[Freesia2]

I suspect that too. Something that would smell rotten to the Evanglicals. I suspect it has something to do with her medical records. She stonewalled there too much.

Who knows. But Sarah Sunshine has a lot of people fooled I think.

[mnhockeyfan]

So, when will Sarah have to file disclosures on all the clothes, travel and makeup she received? Or will that be the fault of the department stores and cosmetics company? She reminds me more and more of some 6-yr. olds I know. No offense to the children ...

[LeftRight]

It's a good thing that you said that last line...... cause I was about to say don't insult the 6 year olds like that......

[kwalters]

Make her stop! Worse than Murkowski. Ugh. Never thought I'd say that...