In the Washington Post front-page story "Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home", James V. Grimaldi and Karl Vick breathlessly report that Sarah Palin and her family billed some expenses to the state. The angle of the story is that although "Palin cast herself as a crusader for fiscal rectitude as Alaska's governor", that's not who she really is.
National Review's John J. Miller cuts through the Post's attempt to trump up a scandal:
Unless I'm missing something, Palin did absolutely nothing wrong. For travel and per diem purposes, the governor's home is technically in Juneau. Occasionally she would travel away from Juneau, spend the night in Wasilla, and bill in some expenses. Her family accrued some travel expenses as well. Altogether, the costs appear to be a fraction of what the previous governor billed in.
I await a front-page story on how much taxpayers have spent so that Joe Biden can ride Amtrak between DC and Delaware whenever he feels like it.
As Miller notes, Palin spent much less than her predecessor. Buried about 1,000 words deep in a 1,380 word story is this paragraph:
Gov. Palin has spent far less on her personal travel than her predecessor: $93,000 on airfare in 2007, compared with $463,000 spent the year before by her predecessor, Frank Murkowski. He traveled often in an executive jet that Palin called an extravagance during her campaign. She sold it after she was sworn into office.
Maybe the Post could have titled the story "Palin Spends 80% Less Than Former Governor".
