The Mavericky Reformer Palin has stepped in another one today. A complaint alleging that Palin misused her official position was filed with Alaska's Attorney General, reports CBS news: Palin Target of New Ethics Complaint
The complaint against Governor Palin, alleges Misuse of Official Position: "Gov. Palin attempted to and in fact did use her official position for personal gain by securing unwarranted benefits for her daughters..." All the allegations contained in the complaint are related to state reimbursed travel.
The complaint was filed by Frank Gwartney, a retired lineman in Anchorage.
"Palin ran on the platform of ethics, transparency and anti-corruption. I’m tired of the hypocrisy that exists in Government and people need to know the truth," said Gwartney.
As we all know, this complaint follows the state legislature's finding that Sarah Palin violated Alaska's state ethics laws (Troopergate Story Link), that she billed the state for nights spent at home (Washington Post Per Diems Story), that she spent about $50,000 to remodel her office (Boston Herald story on remodel), and that the pipeline contract was a sweetheart deal given to political friends (Palin Pipeline story). [Hat tip to aimzzz for that last one!] So mavericky!
With regard to new complaint, CBS reports:
Bristol, Piper and Willow, Palin’s daughters, accrued $32,629 in travel expenses while Palin’s husband Todd raked up $22,174 - all billed to the state for a total of $54,803.00.
"The Governor’s office has expended $54,803.00 in Alaska state dollars for family travel since December 2006," according to the Governor’s Administrative Services Director, Linda Perez. "The documentation related to family travel has changed and you have to keep in mind that the governor and her family are very popular," added Perez.
It's getting ugly out there in "reformer" land. The article also mentions that a complaint has been filed with the FEC with respect to the $150,000 clothing expenditure:
...FEC officials said purchases for such purposes are prohibited. Campaigns are not allowed to spend donated funds on expenses a person would have had regardless if they were running as a candidate or in office. That includes items like clothing, mortgage payments, country club fees, rent, groceries, etc.
DIGG IT.
Thanks for the REC list, peeps! It's my first time!
For background on the travel reimbursement issue and Palin's amending of expense reports, read this AP story.
I'm not seeing this story reported other than by CBS News, so I just emailed a few networks. If you're interested in pushing the story, here's a good list of media contacts I found on someone's my.barackobama page: Media Contacts