The AP investigation into Governor Sarah Palin’s travel expenses as governor not only were stunning, they also were a reminder of the recent revelations by the Nashua Telegraph of Senator John Sununu’s own travel expenses. In both instances, not only did each official misuse taxpayers dollars in their travels, they also tried to cover up the misuse through their subordinates. In Sununu’s case, his spokesperson lied about the issue, while in Palin’s case, she instructed an underling to revise records to make it sound like her children had been invited to events to which they had not, in fact, been invited. Also, they each tried to justify a taxpayer paid trip to official business, even though the "official business" was just a minor part of the trip, so minor that one could call it just an excuse for a junket paid for by the taxpayers.
For those of you who don’t remember or have not heard about the Sununu situation, in 2004, Sununu attended the now notorious Kenai Fishing Classic, an annual fishing tournament organized by Senator Ted Stevens. The tournament was a junket organized by lobbyists and officials from transportation, telecommunications and energy companies. It gave the lobbyists and the officials the opportunity to hang with members of the United States Senate and other government officials far away from D.C., enjoying the fishing on the Kenai.
When asked in August about who paid for the trip, Sununu’s spokesman Julie Teer "told reporters that Sununu's trip was fully paid for from a joint campaign account made up of Stevens' and Sen. Lisa Murkowski's campaigns and Stevens' leadership committee, the Northern Lights PAC."
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/...
That was not true. According to the Telegraph story, Sununu actually billed taxpayers for air travel. Now, Sununu’s story is that the travel payments were proper because "before the fishing junket, Sununu attended a two-day Senate field hearing and met for lunch one day with Alaska telephone executives."
However, the "field hearing" was of a committee that Sununu did not serve - and the hearing was on flood erosion in native villages, a topic that Sununu does not appear to ever had any interest in before or after the fishing junket. As for the lunch, according to Teer’s statements to the Telegraph, Sununu met with executives of the Alaska Telephone Association about Internet taxing and voice over Internet technology. For some reason, they could not have spoken by phone or e-mailed, he had to go to Alaska to meet in person.
And then there is Sarah Palin’s travel problems. As discussed in the AP, Governor Palin also likes billing the taxpayers for questionable travel charges. According to the story, she "charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business."
http://news.yahoo.com/...
No one can accuse Palin of being frugal. Among the charges were a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference but stayed with 17-year-old Bristol Palin for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.
There have been other instances of Sununu being weak on ethics. He never has denounced the phone jamming scheme that helped elect him in 2002, and shortly after Chuck McGee, the New Hampshire Republican Party official who ultimately went to jail for his role, was forced to step down when the scandal became public, Sununu posed for a picture with McGee, smiling and laughing. In June, his leadership PAC accepted $10,000 in donations from two rail companies with ties to Ted Stevens, then the PAC turned around and on the same day gave $7,500 to Ted Stevens - after the Stevens investigation had been made public.
The similar behavior of Sununu and Palin when it comes to misusing the public’s money may explain why Sununu spent so much time campaigning with Palin recently. Perhaps they were exchanging tips on other ways to bilk - excuse me - bill the public for their vacations. Or perhaps Governor Palin was advising the Senator on how to get the Republican Party to pay for a shopping spree. In any event, the hypocrisy of Republican candidates using taxpayer dollars as their personal travel vouchers is stunning in light of their continued ranting about "tax and spend" Democrats. In the world of Sununu and Palin, tax and spend is okay so long as it is our taxes being spent to pay for their junkets.
During a recent debate before the AARP, Sununu said, "I understand one fundamental thing, it's your money, and I'll always vote to protect your money." In the upside down world of Palin and Sununu, the word "protect" means "spend".
-Kathy Sullivan for Jeanne Shaheen for Senate