No More Welfare for Sarah Palin

I love it when I hear conservatives bemoan public welfare.

The conversation usually starts off a little something like this. "Why should my money go to take care of people too lazy to get a damn job. That's not my responsibility. They've been on the welfare rolls too long, I shouldn't have to pay for their lifestyle."

Well, yesterday we learned that as Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin not only took state money that paid her to spend more than 300 nights at her own home instead of the already-paid for Governor's Mansion, she also spent another $43,490 of Alaskan taxpayer dollars on travel for her children and husband.

Then this morning I awoke to learn that in the last two months the Republican National Committee has paid $150,000 for Palin's clothing and make-up. That's $150,000 in a publicly financed campaign. (Remember McCain is taking public tax dollars to wage his campaign, while Sen. Barack Obama chose to raise his funds from private donors.)

One Hundred and fifty thousand dollars in just TWO months. Interestingly enough, The Huffington Post said that same amount would have provided health insurance for 15 people.

I digress.

One would think the RNC would want to spend that money on competing with Sen. Barack Obama in swing states where the McCain-Palin ticket is now shaky, places like Florida maybe. But hey, it's their cash and the RNC can spend it whatever way they want.

Instead of dropping $75,000 in one shopping spree at Neiman Marcus for clothes and accessories, Palin could have gotten hooked up at Macy's for far less? RNC spokespeople said Palin will donate the clothes after the election. Uh-huh, sure.

That said, it is far more concerning to me that Palin sees fit to take money from taxpayers pockets and use it to to cover travel costs for her husband and children.

Alaskans picked up the tab for Palin's 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, according to an investigation by the Associated Press.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, the Associated Press found that Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

I'm not griping about Palin wanting to spend time with her family, but the public shouldn't have to pay for it.

As average parents we wouldn't be able to get away with this. In fact, if we wanted our children and/or spouse with us on a business trip, we'd have to pay for it ourselves, and we would still get the raised-eyebrow look from colleagues.

This amounts to nothing more than public welfare for Sarah Palin. And it is the stuff that voters need to know in order to make intelligent and informed decisions on Election Day.

I don't know about you, but it's obvious to me that Gov. Palin has champagne tastes and caviar dreams at the expense of other people who can barely afford to buy a jug of milk and put gas in the tank.

I hope Palin doesn't think she can waltz into the White House with us giving her a credit card with an unlimited balance. America is in the midst of a recession, we can't afford welfare for Sarah Palin.