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.
Follow Shannyn Moore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/shannynmoore
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.
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
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Who knows. But Sarah Sunshine has a lot of people fooled I think.