WSJ: Palin Sought $450 million in Earmarks since Becoming Gov

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Written by whisperDispatch | 15 September 2008

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports VP Republican nominee Sarah Palin sought over $450 million dollars in earmarks over her two year term as Governor of Alaska.

The figure includes pork (earmarks) Palin sought during her first term in office, and is actually higher than the figures previously reported.

The almost $200 million in earmarks made news a few days ago. With the addition of Palin's first year as Governor, that figure has jumped to a whooping $453 million for the state of Alaska since she took office. Palin sought $197 million for 31 projects in this current fiscal year, and another $256 million for many more projects prior.
This wouldn't be an issue excerpt for the McCain campaign using earmark reform as an attempt to differentiate itself from the last 8 years of the failed Bush administration's policies.

Both McCain and Palin have been running as anti-earmark "reformers" who will clean up the pork in Washington.  McCain has pledged to veto "pork-barrel spending bills" if he were elected.

What adds to the importance of the story is McCain's claim, when appearing on "The View" last week, that Palin had never sought earmarks as Governor. Clearly, the assertion was not true.

Palin herself called the seeking of earmarks "un-American". As reported by The Wall Street Journal :
In an interview with ABC News on Friday, Gov. Palin herself suggested she no longer seeks earmarks for her state. "The abuse of earmarks, it's un-American, it's undemocratic, and it's not going to be accepted in a McCain-Palin administration. Earmark abuse will stop," she said.
As the public finds out McCain was either lying or simply didn't know Palin's record, new questions are resurfacing about how well Palin was vetted before being chosen as the VP nominee.

[whisperDispatch]
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