You know what worries me the most? It is to think that the fans of Obama are probably all like DOUG. This is very scary. I hope I am wrong. I admire and love Americans, but I never thought some could be so low and mean as Doug. Those people are the worst enemies a country can have. I sure hope that DOUG and his friends are just misinformed or ignorant and not really evil minded as they seems to be.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Thanks Missy. I had archived the Alaskan Transportation Priorities Project organization after Lois Epstein had come in with a comment on the Gravina Island Bridge post. You can read her comment, and my follow ups there.

She mentioned the Juneau Rd project, which I didn’t discuss in depth, but mentioned that the cancellation of a segment of the series of roads underway shen she first got into office. After Ms. Epstein’s comment, I posted the info on that project from the linked articles in the post to clarify for the rest of you.

Ms. Epstein has never clarified just who entered into a contract with the company who built the Gravina Island road to where the bridge was supposed to go. Perhaps she doesn’t know, tho I asked. All press reports indicate that Murkowski was in a scramble to get that road and it’s funds under contract in the last days of his term before Palin took office. I have seen no press reports that indicate Palin awarded that contract after his exit. And highly unlikely in the wake of her transition team’s report.

And since Murkowski or family has some personal holdings on the Island, it’s certainly more to his benefit to get that contract awarded while the awarding was good. All news releases point that the “road to no where” was contracted out successfully before Palin took office, and the project was built per contract.

The ATPP has some interesting links that I’ve already gone thru somewhat. They are a group that promotes sensible spending in Alaskan transportation… a place where the continuous and discontinuous permafrost makes their 3500 miles of paved and gravel roads an annual event.

The ATPP has never supported the Gravina Bridge, but instead advocates for a ferry.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Mata, I stumbled upon this site last night, don’t know if you’ve seen it yet, probably have, but just in case. It has a lot of interesting stuff, I spent quite a bit of time with the links to press reports, letters from Palin’s office, etc.

http://www.aktransportation.org/

BTW, Here’s another WSJ column for you Doug.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122100927525717663.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Ah yes, the PSEA… the union that got the suspension of Wooten reduced.

The Palin family files formal complaints against Wooten with the AST. Grimes conducts an investigation and finds that he has a behavorial pattern of actions unbecoming an AST, and says if it happens again, he’ll be fired. And the union comes to his rescue as a witness for Wooten’s side at a divorce preceeding?

I don’t care what the judge said, Doug. That family, or any family, has every right to file any and all complaints against an officer. That the court would make an official comment on anyone following the official complaint process makes me believe two things… that not only is there a high degree of corruption that is tolerated in the enforcement there, but that the courts also have a high degree of corruption.

I would have taken that judge to task for even suggesting they had no rights to file complaints…. and had his ass on the chopping block with his superiors.

And how nice you are the judge, jury and executioner of Trooper’gate. You are behaving like a pompous ass, Doug. No doubt you were one of those who would have hung the Duke LaCross players too.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

A Form of Child abuse:

(Newsweek) An Anchorage judge three years ago warned Sarah Palin and members of her family to stop “disparaging” the reputation of Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten, who at the time was undergoing a bitter separation and divorce from Palin’s sister Molly.

Allegations that Palin, her husband Todd, and at least one top gubernatorial aide continued to vilify Wooten—after Palin became Alaska’s governor and pressured state police officials to take action against him—are at the center of “Troopergate,” a political and ethical controversy which has embroiled Palin’s administration and is currently the subject of an official inquiry by a special investigator hired by the state legislature.

Court records obtained by NEWSWEEK show that during the course of divorce hearings three years ago, Judge John Suddock heard testimony from an official of the Alaska State Troopers’ union about how Sarah Palin—then a private citizen—and members of her family, including her father and daughter, lodged up to a dozen complaints against Wooten with the state police. The union official told the judge that he had never before been asked to appear as a divorce-case witness, that the union believed family complaints against Wooten were “not job-related,” and that Wooten was being “harassed” by Palin and other family members.

Court documents show that Judge Suddock was disturbed by the alleged attacks by Palin and her family members on Wooten’s behavior and character. “Disparaging will not be tolerated—it is a form of child abuse,” the judge told a settlement hearing in October 2005, according to typed notes of the proceedings. The judge added: “Relatives cannot disparage either. If occurs [sic] the parent needs to set boundaries for their relatives.”
…

Now MetaHarley can go post-”BS.”
Motive, opportunity, means. and even, now, evidence.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

First of all, it’s downright frustrating to do the research on the Gravina Island Bridge, post all that dang research, and still find there are those here who don’t bother to read and parrot the same BS.

First of all the Congressional funds were controversial, and the funds removed as the bridge earmarks BEFORE Palin took office Dec 24, 2006.

From a WaPo article Nov 17, 2005… over a year before Palin took office, and almost a year before she started campaigning:

The $223 million span linking the small town of Ketchikan to sparsely populated Gravina Island and a second Alaskan bridge project have been stripped of their funding by congressional negotiators as they race to wrap up legislative business.

That decision reflects a growing unease among Republicans of criticism of runaway government spending in a transportation bill that includes 6,000-plus special projects for House members’ districts. But the maneuver is largely cosmetic and may only slow the bridge projects. As part of the deal, Alaska will get to keep the $454 million that Congress set aside for the two bridges, and technically the state can use the transportation funds for any project it chooses — including the bridges.

Point being, the money was stripped of mandates to use towards the Gravina bridge. However Congress did not redirect the cash, and instead directed it to Alaska to USE AS TRANSPORTATION FUNDS FOR ANY PROJECT IT CHOOSES…. including the bridges.

1: Palin’s campaign expressed doubt and skepticism before the election.
2: She did not set aside state funds to cover funding shortage… ie not planning on the bridge
3: Her transition team said bad juju budget decision
4: Palin killed the bridge idea, and they are working on other alternatives, at the state’s expense.

You cannot flip flop when you are not fully on board. She could not refuse funds that were passed to Alaska when Murkowski was Governor.

The “bridge to nowhere” is the “scandal to nowhere”. Period. Anyone who can’t get from A to B in thought patterns and timelines is just plain grasping at straws to misinform the electorate for political gain. Period.’

~~~

As far as “travel’gate”… did you naysayers even open the WaPo article linked in this post? Allow me to reiterate INRE what Palin was legal allowed for her travel expenses, and what she chose NOT to charge…. meaning, she actually claimed less expenses that what she was entitled to.

Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official “duty station” is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post.

The governor’s daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel, and many of the trips were between their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show.

Gubernatorial spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Monday that Palin’s expenses are not unusual and that, under state policy, the first family could have claimed per diem expenses for each child taken on official business but has not done so

~~~

Speaking from Palin’s Anchorage office, Leighow said Palin dealt with the plane and also trimmed other expenses, including forgoing a chef in the governor’s mansion because she preferred to cook for her family. The first family’s travel is an expected part of the job, she said.

“As a matter of protocol, the governor and the first family are expected to attend community events across the state,” she said. “It’s absolutely reasonable that the first family participates in community events.”

The state finance director, Kim Garnero, said Alaska law exempts the governor’s office from elaborate travel regulations. Said Leighow: “The governor is entitled to a per diem, and she claims it.”

The popular governor collected the per diem allowance from April 22, four days after the birth of her fifth child, until June 3, when she flew to Juneau for two days. Palin moved her family to the capital during the legislative session last year, but prefers to stay in Wasilla and drive 45 miles to Anchorage to a state office building where she conducts most of her business, aides have said.

Palin rarely sought reimbursement for meals while staying in Anchorage or Wasilla, the reports show.

~~~

Leighow noted that under state policy, all of the governor’s children are entitled to per diem expenses, even her infant son. “The first family declined the per diem [for] the children,” Leighow said. “The amount that they had declined was $4,461, as of August 5.”

~~~

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.

Leighow said that the governor’s staff has tallied the travel expenses charged by Murkowski’s wife: $35,675 in 2006, $43,659 in 2005, $13,607 in 2004 and $29,608 in 2003. Associates of Murkowski said the former governor was moose hunting and could not be reached to comment.

I’m sorry, but the woman claims less than the predecessor, and also doesn’t claim expenses she is entitled to. Another “scandal to nowhere”.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

It’s not just the WP story, Scott. It’s the bridge, the road, the travel, the troopergate, the plane, and all the other stories that when contrasted with the ‘outsider’ DC image magnified by her own repetition of being outside it all that I believe will start to tarnish now.

No, Doug

It’s not any of those things(which have all been refuted btw), it’s Palin herself. You libs just want her to just go away and you are trying your best to accomplish this. Sorry, Chump, she’s not going anywhere except to the WH.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

In contrast, the list of pork that Governor Obama has fought against is lengthy
[/sarcasm off]

Like or Dislike: 0  0

I think it was a really good pick—Senator Joe Biden,” she said, and later added, “People say they have amazing chemistry, and it’s true.”

Birds of a feather, don’t ya know.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Here’s what another online researcher discovered.

h/t – NewsVine

Tracking Down the Palin Bridge to No Where Flip Flop
News Type: Event — Sun Sep 7, 2008 7:28 PM EDT
politics, election-2008, sarah-palin, alaska-politics
space guy

Since there are so many lies going around right now, both here on the vine and elsewhere about the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, I thought I would do a little research on one of the stories. The story is that Sarah Palin was for the so called “bridge to no where” during here campaign for governor but against it afterward when she supposedly used it as a way to break into the national scene (she foresaw being picked by McCain I guess).

Here is what I have been able to find:

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/2008/view.bg?articleid=1116208&srvc=home&position=emailed

The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them “nowhere.” They’re still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin’s subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects – and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

“I think that’s when the campaign for national office began,” said Ketchikan mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday.

Next

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed7/idUSN3125537020080901

When she was running for governor in 2006, Palin said she was insulted by the term “bridge to nowhere,” according to Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein, a Democrat, and Mike Elerding, a Republican who was Palin’s campaign coordinator in the southeast Alaska city.

Next

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-08-31-palin-bridge_N.htm

“We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge, and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative,” Palin said in August 2006, according to the Ketchikan Daily News.

The Anchorage Daily News quoted her in October 2006 as saying she would continue state funding for the bridge. “The window is now, while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist,” she said.

Ok I found the article, but not what is quoted above:

As for the infamous “bridges to nowhere,” MacDonald asked if the candidates would forge ahead with the proposed Knik Arm crossing between Anchorage and Point MacKenzie and Ketchikan’s Gravina Island bridge. Each has received more than $90 million in federal funding and drew nationwide attacks as being unnecessary and expensive. He also asked if they support building an access road from Juneau toward — but not completely connecting to — Skagway and Haines.

“I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the state of Alaska that our congressional delegations worked hard for,” Palin said. She said the projects link communities and create jobs.

I have searched hi and low for this August 2006 quote by here in the Ketchikan Daily News and it is just not there. However, I did find this gem:

EDITOR, Daily News: I met Sarah Palin, a gubernatorial candidate for the State of Alaska, on several occasions, and recently I researched her background and experience from her Web site and from other sources as well. She appears to me an ambitious and articulate young woman. Ms. Palin was a mayor of Wasilla with population of 5,000 residents. She unsuccessfully campaigned for the office of lieutenant governor in 2002, and Gov. Murkowski appointed her to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2003. I also hear from Ms. Palin and her supporters that she is an honest individual. Nevertheless, I question whether these qualifications are sufficient for the position of the chief executive of the state. There are great challenges ahead of us in Alaska. To face these challenges, Alaskans need to chose the chief executive who has broad business experience in Alaska, exemplary leadership skills, long history of public service in…

From reading a lot of the summaries from that paper, it looks like this area has never been Sarah Palin country. I can see where the national dems get their meme for her supposed lack of experience.

Now links to articles where she was either not for it or neutral.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/511232.html

McAllister, who was a reporter for Anchorage television station KTUU during the 2006 campaign, said he remembers well Palin’s position on the bridge project. She was lukewarm as a candidate and cooled to it as governor, he said.

In the same article the price tag had risen from the original $223 million to $400 million

In her acceptance speech Friday, Palin described herself as a champion reformer who put a stop to the $400 million bridge project in Alaska in her effort to “end the abuses” of earmark spending in Congress.

In further Research for the source I looked in the Ketchikan Daily News Archive and found this:

State: Juneau road will cost more 9/7/2006
Republican candidate Sarah Palin favors improved access to the state capital but has questions about the road cost and its risks to drivers and passengers, because it will run through a series of avalanche chutes, said Curtis Smith, spokesman for the Palin campaign.

As far as I can find from a detailed search of the Ketchikan Daily News archives, there is no such article as is claimed in the first links above.

There is another part of the story that did not make sense to me. Many articles have stated that the money for the bridge was passed by congress and that the money made it to Alaska and was spent on other projects. My research is that there was an earlier $90 million earmark that was actually talked about that was for multiple bridge projects. It seems that only $38M of that money was for the highway going to the bridge (which could also be used for a ferry service). Here is from the Ketchikan Daily news

In addition, the administration announced that the state will make the approximately $38 million in remaining federal money for the bridge available for transportation projects in other parts of Alaska.

So this is either lazy or just inaccurate reporting to say that the bridge to nowhere earmark actually made it to the state (it did not).

To summarize

It looks like Sarah Palin did make positive statements about getting money for the bridge (10/26/06) but that she was concerned about the cost. When the cost ballooned from $223 million to over $400 million she put a stop to it. She may have slightly overstated the aversion to earmarks things but that is just a bit of theatrics that underlies her consistently killing overbudget items as well as a general attitude of reining in spending.

As for the money. There was an earlier earmark for $90 million that is partially being used to build an approach road to the bridge site. This approach road could easily be used for a ferry, which is one of the alternatives that is being explored. There is zero evidence that the $223 million that was removed from the earmark process made it to Alaska. This is just common sense in that if the money is removed, it is removed and it is just sloppy journalism for the main stream media to confuse the two.

It also looks like the mayor of Ketchikan has an axe to grind against Sarah Palin. It is obvious that if the bridge was built, whatever land and or businesses that he owns would be more valuable so that has to be considered.

All in all there was no flip flop. She originally stated, when running for governor that she was concerned about possible cost increases (the state would have had to cover the overruns). When the cost increases materialized, she killed it. The earmark main earmark money never came to Alaska and the money that did come was from an earlier earmark from before she became governor.

As the Mythbusters would say

Busted

Like or Dislike: 0  0