A closer look at Palin’s budget cut claims
Originally published Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 12:20 a.m.
Updated Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 9:50 a.m.
Digg
delicious
Facebook
Mixx
Reddit
Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — Gov. Sarah Palin has from the get-go pitched herself to Alaskans as a fiscal conservative, someone who can rein in government growth. Now, as the vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party, she continues to present fiscal restraint as a hallmark trait. Conservative commentators and organizations have chimed in with praise in the days following her selection by Sen. John McCain as his running mate.
But state general fund spending has risen sharply in the 21 months since Palin took office. The budget she signed earlier this year for fiscal 2009 spent $5 billion from the state’s general fund — a 34 percent increase over the budget she proposed for fiscal 2008 not long after taking office.
The increase rises to about 58 percent if the roughly $1 billion approved by Palin and the Legislature in last month’s special session for an energy rebate to Alaska residents and for other items is included.
Whether the state’s spending level contradicts the image coming out of the McCain-Palin campaign depends on who you ask. The campaign is promoting Palin as a governor who is a vigorous budget cutter and a philosophical companion of those who seek to restrain government spending.
“I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes,” Palin told the wildly enthusiastic gathering of delegates at the Republican National Convention during her Wednesday night acceptance speech. “Our state budget is under control.”
Whether Alaska’s spending is out of control also depends on who you ask. If anything, it is the revenue that would seem unrestrained — money from oil revenue and increased taxes on the oil industry has been pouring into the treasury at a rate that would astonish other governors. That windfall has allowed Palin and the Legislature to put billions into savings even as spending grows.
But spending increases nevertheless have been substantial under Palin, who has had a Republican-controlled Legislature to work with. The size of the budget made some of her fellow Republicans in the Legislature nervous, with two House Republicans saying they would have voted against this year’s spending plan had the GOP caucus not had rules in place to punish those who stray from the party on that one key issue.
“We can’t sustain it,” said Republican Rep. Ralph Samuels of Anchorage.
Palin’s philosophy
In July 2006, during a nearly two-hour interview with the Daily News-Miner in advance of the August GOP primary election, Palin laid out some of her fiscal agenda should she ultimately win the governor’s mansion — as she went on to do convincingly that November. Murkowski and the Legislature had approved a major increase in spending, including an approximately $2.5 billion capital budget — a record size — that was funded with state, federal and other funds. The state had eaten up its billion-dollar-plus surplus.
“My goal would not to be growing state government ... ” she said. “My budgets would not see this level of growth at all, no.”
“(B)eing a budget hawk and keeping a handle on state government growth will be absolutely a commitment of mine in state government,” Palin said in the July 2006 interview. “I did that with the city of Wasilla. Don’t come to me and just automatically assume you’re going to get an increase in your budget just because 12 months have happened to go by.”
Palin also had strong words, during her July 2006 interview with the News-Miner, for Republican colleagues in Juneau who spent a large surplus that accumulated with the sharp upturn in the price of oil. She said it “just kind of blew my mind, especially when we have Republicans in charge.”
“And I’m thinking, wow, whatever happened to the fiscal conservative planks in the Republican platform?”
The increases
Karen Rehfeld, director of Palin’s Office of Management and Budget, said several factors contributed to the increase under Palin.
The budget includes a $455 million allocation to pay down the multi-billion dollar unfunded liability in the state’s two public employee retirement systems. It also includes substantial increases in tax credits the state is providing to the oil industry to encourage exploration. Those credits — parts of the oil tax system that the state absorbs — totaled about $250 million in fiscal 2008 and about $400 million in fiscal 2009 and get charged to the state’s books. An increase in tax credits, though, is an indicator of increased activity by the industry, which Rehfeld noted is positive for the state.
“These are key pieces,” she said, noting also that Palin’s budget included three-years of revenue sharing for local governments.
Other big-ticket items have helped expand the budget. Rehfeld noted the approval of $300 million in a weatherization and energy-efficient program for Alaska homeowners, two years of “considerable” increases in the education foundation formula and increases in the state’s share of Medicaid payments. The state share rose when the federal government reduced the amount it pays.
The number of budgeted full-time state employees has risen slightly under Palin, to 21,400 for fiscal 2009 from 21,230 in fiscal 2008. Those figures include employees at the Alaska Court System, the University of Alaska and the Legislature.
A spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin did not respond Friday to e-mail and a telephone call from the News-Miner seeking comment about the specific level of spending increases incurred since Palin became governor.
Rehfeld, however, said Palin has held to a desire to control state spending.
“She’s been very consistent since she took office that she wants to control the growth of state government, which generally talks about agency operations, the bureaucracy,” Rehfeld said of Palin. “She wants to save for the future when oil prices are not so high and when production goes down.”
“That’s the mindset we use when developing the budget.”
Palin has, without question, had it easier than her immediate predecessors, who struggled with assembling budgets in times of low oil prices — even down to $9 per barrel back in the 1990s.
In December 2005, when Murkowski presented his final budget as governor, a barrel of Alaska North Slope crude had risen to about $55, a vast improvement from the first part of his term. A year later, for Palin’s first budget, a barrel was selling for roughly the same price. But by the middle of 2007, the oil price trajectory went steeply upward, hitting $96 in November.
Palin introduced her second budget in December 2007. The price of oil hit $100 for the first time in February 2008.
Rehfeld acknowledges Palin’s good fortune in not having to make the difficult budget decisions like those who came before her. “I think we are in unprecedented times.”
The vetoes
“Gov. Sarah Palin is a fiscal conservative who used her veto pen often to take on wasteful spending,” said Maria Comella, spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, in a Thursday night e-mail in response to questions from the News-Miner.
“Bottom line: Gov. Palin has tackled wasteful spending, got results and will do the same with John McCain to fix Washington.”
Palin, in her convention speech, said “I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.”
Of that approximately $500 million, little more than half was of state general fund spending and fell across three fiscal years — with some of it from supplemental funding added by the Legislature to the fiscal 2007 budget after Palin took office in late 2006.
“I’m a fiscal conservative, and I was elected as a fiscal conservative,” she said when vetoing a quarter-million dollars from the combined operating and capital budgets earlier this year.
The vetoes weren’t enough, however, to keep spending anywhere near the budgets she sent to the Legislature each of her first two years in office.
Surplus and savings
Palin came into office with the state awash in cash.
Three days before Palin’s swearing in in December 2006, the state Department of Revenue issued a revenue forecast that projected Alaska would have $1.5 billion more available to spend than thought for that fiscal year, which was about half completed at the time. It also projected that the surplus for the following year would be $1 billion larger than earlier thought, due mostly to an oil production tax passed by the Legislature during the Murkowski administration.
The revisions showed the state could expect a $4.9 billion surplus for fiscal 2007 and $3.9 billion for fiscal 2008.
Palin, just days before taking office, was pledging a tighter government.
“We don’t have a revenue problem,” she said in a statement. “We have a spending problem.”
By June of 2008, the dollar amounts were still going up. The Department of Revenue announced that the state would end the fiscal year on June 30 with $1.2 billion more in revenue than it had projected earlier in the year. The state would receive a total of $9.8 billion in unrestricted general fund revenue, the department reported.
The numbers about general fund spending don’t include the millions Palin and the Legislature have set aside in various savings accounts. For fiscal 2009, Palin and the Legislature put $1 billion into the Constitutional Budget Reserve and $1 billion into the Public Education Fund. In fiscal 2008, a combined $4 billion went into the CBR and into another budget reserve account.
In her first speech to a joint session of the Legislature in January 2007, Palin talked about a desire to save.
“I guarantee most Alaskans feel with that level of income, we should be able to fund our priorities to serve fewer than 700,000 people, and save money.”
Community Discussion
Newsminer.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full user's agreement.
HOLY COW! Change the name of the news paper to the "Murkowski Daily".
Every extra dollar spent was ALL in conjunction with Alaskan's desires.
Help with the high oil prices, both short and long term.
Help pay down the growing debts of the retirement system.
Encourage oil development and gas line construction.
She didn't buy her office a cool jet.
She didn't snuggle up to oil companies in private meetings. And when she took office, and vowing to reduce spending, the price of gas wasn't up where it has been today. Just whom did you expect, was going to pay for all the additional costs associated with higher costs of fuel?
The newsminer's really over the top on this one. Do you really believe trying to splatter mud over, in my opinion, one of the most popular and admired politicians since JFK, would win you any points with the majority of your readers?
Please lord, send us another newspaper that understands unbiased reporting and it's journalistic responsibility to give ALL the facts and look at the whole issue.
In a little over two years, the price of a barrel of oil has gone up by nearly 100%, or over $50; Alaskans reap the benefits, no question. So...how about Gov. Palin sending the rest of us in the lower 48 the same $1,200 and $2,000 checks she's sent out to her constituents? (After all, we're adding to your coffers by what we're paying at the pump, aren't we??) P.S. Sincerely wishing all in Alaska...the best.
I find this artical disappointing in the Daily News Miner. I really couldn't find one good thing about Palin. I would like to give the writer a few hinters. Focus on the pros and cons on each person. Don't only focus on the cons especially on Palin, an outstanding person. The problem with the media, and yes News Miner, that includes you, is you want Obama to win this year which is why your printing nasty things about Palin. Luckily though, the American people know better!Go McCain and Palin!
Good grief, what a biased report. Old Rod is really out to get Sarah, isn't he? And the newspaper is just as bad or they wouldn't publish it. Slant, slant, and more slant.
Wonderful Snooze Miner, just wonderful... and to think you will be quoted in the liberal press all over the country as the opinion of all Alaskans. How can you be so far out of tune with the rest of Alaska? Wait, that's right, forgot, you aren't really Alaskans now are you.
Wow for a minute there I thought I was reading the ADN !
How dare you try to smear our beautiful Gov with the facts DNM! Shame shame on you! In a few years, after McCain's cancer decides that even a president isn't immune to its will to end a life, and gorgeous Sarah takes control over the largest nuclear arsenal in the world then we can all feel comfort that her experience as a hunter, and her time in the Wasilla PTA and then mayor and governor will lead us to very interesting times.. Interesting is good, right? Go Sarah go! You are so much nicer to watch and listen to then any of those other republicans you run with. That is all that matters, image is everything..
Why isn't anyone looking at what the legislators had to do with increase spending? Seems to be they have a hand in spending. But then again the local "journalist" are looking for their chance to have an article picked up by the national media for their moment of fame. What better way than make mention of Palin. For all the outsiders, I won't put to much trust into anything a NewMiner "writer" puts out. Generally they are more in tune when reporting about moose hunting season.
It is a shame that the News Miner is so slanted (and slanderous) in its view of Palin that it seems to be "laying down" with Whittaker. There are places in the Lower 48 that would hire you both.....we'll help you pack.
The purpose of journalism isn't to agree with the propaganda, it's supposed to be critical of the establishment. THAT is WHY it exists. WHY Free Speech was written into the Constitution. Look at our Founding Father, Ben Franklin. He was very critical of the establishment, whether it was the government or simply some merchants.
Newsminer needs to continue being critical. If she, or we can't handle this.. then she doesn't belong as VP, or any political office.
All of the comments regarding the DNM being liberally-biased make me laugh!! How outrageous!
To anyone listening in from "outside" our big bubble, the truth about Sarah is this. She is a politician in the most negative way there is. She has the charm to bamboozle the citizens of AK but like this opinion piece suggest, she is an opportunist, plain and simple. The people who are so enamored with her now are the same ones that have been electing the corrupt bastards for decades and it took the FBI raids and subsequent convictions wake people up. Sarah came along at the perfect time. All it took was the appearance of an outsider "maverick" coming in to shake up the old guard (some of the same ones she got the earmarked money from for her town when as mayor) and claim she is going to clean up the political landscape. This corruption issue was so ripe for the picking that a hockey mom could have pulled it off! The FBI was already taking out AK's garbage anyhow, but never mind, she got elected overwhelmingly and stole most of the credit according to her speech at the convention. No matter how this all turns out and gets spun, she is not what she appears to be, she's just another opportunist politician, maybe a pretty one, but nothing more.
Imagine the headlines if she'd have cut the budget...
"Women and children starving due to mean-spirited Republicans cutting the budget!"
That's what I love (NOT!) about the liberal press - they think they should be able to have it cut both way with no consequences.
Hey Rod, get a clue... When the hypocrisy and half-truths come through loud and clear, some readers don't bother reading the rest of the article and shrug off your writing as another biased rant.
You quoted Sarah as saying "...vetoing wasteful spending...". I guess you consider paying down the PERS/TERS debt as wasteful? That seems to contradict previous News Minus editorials. But I guess there's no hypocrisy there, eh?
I'm not surprised you feel that way about the energy rebate. The News Minus has a well established record of being opposed to giving the people back THEIR money.
This is at least the second hack piece that I've seen with your byline. Maybe I'll just skip all your articles from now on.
My dear Divina, if you want the benefits of state citizenship, move here. Hey, wait, here's a better idea: Why don't you petition Hugo Chavez or the Saudi's, maybe they'll send you a cut of the money you send to them.
Rod: I'm sure that the recent spate of negative articles on Governor Palin is simply to balance out a bushel or two of front-page DNM stories dissecting Obama in detail. I've been out of town all summer and haven't been able to get the News-miner regularly, so could you please get me the dates & titles of said stories. I'm interested in hearing both sides . . .
Oh jeepers, here we go! It's mud slinging time! We didn't read any of this kind of criticism of Sara until she accepted the Vice President nomination. Now all we are going to read about in the DNM is how badly she's botched things up in Alaska.
Sara still has my vote of confidence!
McCain/Palin 2008!!
A lot of threads here have at least one complaint that the DNM is running articles regarding Palin (usually about those that don't paint her in the glowing light you'd like).
You have obviously read them, so, the DNM's mission is accomplished. Now, it is up to you to ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND what's been written. Is it possible that the rest of the nation is asking for the same articles, looking for information on a largely unknown woman who wants to be the VP? Is is possible that the rest of the nation is actually doing their homework here? Why in the world is information bad?
The media has a responsibiliy to inform. In Alaska, you Palin supporters claim to know everything wonderful about her (which amounts to "she's pretty and gives us money" in a lot of cases). Are you looking for the DNM to keep printing the same old Palinpraise or do you want it to give you all the information it can in order to make an informed decision?
Good morning, readers,
All the budget numbers were verified by the director of the governor's Office of Management and Budget, who was very cooperative for this report and who corrected one of my numbers before publication. She said it is a fair and acceptable use of the numbers. She concurred that general fund spending is the benchmark by which budgets are usually judged.
The director explained why the budget went up, and that is included in the story.
I also explained the premise of the story to the McCain-Palin campaign on more than one occasion. The campaign, after offering an initial vague comment, then chose not to respond to multiple follow-up requests for specific comment on what the numbers show.
Thanks for reading and considering the story.
Rod Boyce
News-Miner
The News-Miner is reporting on Palin because it's local news. The News-Miner has a somewhat better institutional memory of her actions as an elected official than papers in the lower 48, and Palin's actions have had more direct consequences to us. The News-Miner also has more direct access to resources on Palin than do papers in the lower 48, and less direct access to resources on the other candidates. Just as the News-Miner is writing about Palin's record, papers in Illinois are writing about Obama's, and I imagine papers in Delaware and Arizona are doing the same for Biden and McCain, respectively.
The article points out that Gov. Palin has not been reckless with government spending, which is true and commendable. I wish the article had mentioned that she cut funding for alternative energy research at UAF at a time when Alaska is taking the brunt of the energy crisis. I'm sure she had her reasons, but to my knowledge she has not shared them. That particular budget cut undercuts the "oil plus alternative energy" image she is now trying to portray, and does not seem to serve Alaskans well in the long term.
BigMike says:
"Alternative energy funding has increased by orders of magnitude under the Palin administration."
BM, do you even know what an order of magnitude is? Show us the numbers that alt energy funding from the Palin administration has increased by "orders" of magnitude.
JoeBtfsplk,
I respectfully disagree with you about the first words of the story, but I realize readers will have their own views on the words--and that's fine.
I chose those words to have an informal feel on what I knew was going to be a dry story; budget stories usually are drier than the surface of the Mojave Desert (Yes, I've been there many a time). And, of course, the words are accurate: Palin has for a long time pitched herself as a fiscal conservative. There's no question about it. All a person needs to do is look at her comments over the years.
Rod
Rod, the same people who will be hyper critical of anything that might suggest their beloved Sarah isn't everything she claimed to be at the convention will be all in favor of letting Fox News off the hook for repeatedly and deliberately misnaming Obama "Osama". They will name your piece as liberal media bias with zero basis for it. If they label every news story that hints that a Republican candidate isn't everything they say they are as liberal news bashing, and say it enough times it starts to take on a life of its own.
Strength is ignorance.
Rod,
Don't listen to BigMike. He complains yet he still anonymously posts away. Thank you for not rolling over and for doing a piece that actually talks about the issues relevant to the election. That is what voters need to be looking at.
BigMike - Quit your ranting about how UAF researchers are incompetent! The work that they do is remarkable! Gov. Palin should NOT have cut the UAF funding for alternative energy research. The UAF researchers are some of the best in the world and they could have done great things with that money.
It's about time the public learns that not everything Gov. Palin does is wonderful.
By the way, BigMike, you hate UAF, fire fighters, unions, the school district, the city, the borough, and most everything else. Is there anybody or anything that you like???
"You and your cronies at the DNM are almost single handlely creating the most devisive environmental that has ever existed in the Fairbanks community." "Mark my words your irresponsible reporting will lead to problems"
Let's see. BM, does this mean that if we are not Sarah devotee's then not only are we liberals, but we are a divisive force in the community and if we keep it up we are going to cause "problems" in the future. Maybe your idea of "taking responsibility" for the divisiveness we are causing would be good old fashioned lynchings? Or are you too civilized for that? Maybe all the anti Republicans should be rounded up and loaded on the AK railroad and sent "away". Then the community would be safe from those divisive liberals once and for all.
Before people start running their necks about the budget, maybe they should take a look at the actual documents and see for themselves what the Governor found important and what she declined to fund.
Heres' a start:
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/09_omb/bu...
No, I think you prefer to read articles written only from the conservative viewpoint. Anything else is trash in your mind regardless of whether it is unbiased or not.
draconianslayer and i'musuallyright are right -- the job of the press to look into, investigate, bring facts to light.
When the McCain camp drops an unknown news bobmbshell like Palin on the nation, there is going to be lots -- LOTS -- of stories, criticisms, pundits commenting, you name it.
Do you all really, REALLY think the newspapers in Alaska should just roll over and blindly support Palin because the rest of ya'll do? Once you enter the realm of public office, everything you do is under scrutiny. Your past, your present, your decisions, you name it.
Palin says, "I told Congress thanks but not thanks" on the bridge, and she proudly keeps saying that. And you know what? It's not TRUE.
It's statements like that which generate stories like these on her background and history, where she came from, who she is, her policies, her ideas, her beliefs.
As long as she keeps touting what a great job she did in Alaska, newspapers EVERYWHERE are going to keep looking into what exactly she did while governor there. The only difference is the DNM and ADN have hometurf advantage.
Obama said it pretty damn well when he said he's gone through it for 19 months and that Palin's only had a week or so of the scrutiny. Sounds to me like all you Palin lemmings are whining something akin to "they're picking on my child and it's not fair."
It's called politics and it's ugly. Get over it.
BigMike says
"akbearable - yeah I like unbiased reporting and fiscally responsible governments."
Well go sit and watch your Fox News then.. And for fiscally responsible governments, you must just LOVE how the past 8 years of Bush has netted us a 9 THOUSAND BILLION dollar deficit. In some ways I wouldn't mind another 4 years of a Republican in the white house. The public still doesn't get it that the GOP is now the least financially conservative party there ever was and we probably still need to bleed more before we can get out of this dark place we have been hiding in for 8 long years. Maybe after 4 more years with McCain we will truly be ready for a change.
You're all so thrilled that Palin is on the Republican ticket, but somehow think that being put into the spotlight won't lead to these kinds of articles??? No matter who the VP candidate was, some new outlet somewhere would be running similar stories. It is the nature of politics and the media. You can't have it both ways -- if Sarah's the running mate, she's going to be under a ton of scrutiny. Live with it.
SlyArcticFox- You are SO wrong! Oboma has been praised by the media. They never condemn him. They have been going after the rebublicans. It appears your a democrat and if you want obama and change, by golly your going to get it. You maze well kiss your job goodbye. When he forces unionization on small businesses and large alike, businesses are going to move to foreign countries because unlike Americans, they appreciate their job and their only concern is feeding their family. Americans want $50 a hour, healthcare for their whole family and so much more. For those who vote for Obama, I have a message. When you pay $10 for a loaf of bread, don't come crying on the Arctic Cam. You voted for it, you live with it!
Oh my, the whining and crying sounds of victimization politics. The conservative movement in this country is pathetic and even a little funny. Hold your self out to be the big bad cock of the walk and then as soon as someone holds your record up to the light of transparency start crying about how the big bad liberals are beating up on you. Sad really, but still funny. As mayor Palin oversaw the greatest growth of payroll in the history of the city while not addressing sewers, roads or any other type of infrastructure. She was somehow able to leave the city with over $20 million dollars in debt for an ice arena built on land the city did not own. Not liberal slant just conservative fact.
If Palin is as bad as some of you say, why is her approval rating 82%? She must have been doing something right! Think about it!
"If Palin is as bad as some of you say, why is her approval rating 82%? She must have been doing something right! Think about it!"
I am thinking about it.. Seems like its that same 82% who have been voting in Stevens, Young, Murky, and the Corrupt Bastards for decades as well. Now that Sarah has thrusted herself on the scene as a "reformer" all 82% are suddenly behind the lady who has gone and stabbed her fellow GOP's in the back! I see why she is earning the name "Barracuda with lip stick", She has ice hooks in each arm, good for climbing over the old Republican guard on her way to the top. I suspect most of these Palin lovers will still vote in Stevens and Young regardless of them being on Palin's "powerful enemies list".
Approval of Palin as governor doesn't necessarily translate into endorsement for the presidential ticket. I think she's done a pretty good job as governor, but I really don't want her as vice-president. Governors don't wage wars, negotiate (or fail to negotiate) with foreign countries, or appoint Federal Reserve board members. Palin has shown a willingness to take on many of the corrupt Republicans in Alaska (for which she has my admiration), but she subscribes to the same Republican ideology that gave us Guantanamo Bay, secret CIA prisons, illegal spying on American citizens, the war in Iraq, the weak dollar, high unemployment, and a diminished standing in the world. To make matters worse, she hasn't studied the national issues except as they affect Alaska. She is far enough behind in this respect that McCain aides devoted two full days to filling her in and helping her write her RNC speech.
McCain's seemingly impulsive selection of Palin is reminiscent of Palin appointing Chuck Kopp as commissioner of public safety, or President Bush nominating Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court Justice or John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. Bush and Cheney have given us as much headstrong, arrogant, backwards-thinking presidency as we can stand; the last thing we need is to give McCain and Palin the chance to the same for four more years. Palin for Governor of Alaska; Obama/Biden for President/Vice-President of the United States.
Well all I can say is if Sarah Palin is not qualified to be the vice president of the United States, then Barrack Obama is most certainly not qualified to be the president of the United States. The media seems to want a weak leader when our nation needs just the oppisite, an extremely powerful leader. I agree that Palin may not have the experience that past vice presidents have had but she will only be the vice president. Obama has the same skill level (less in my opinion) yet everyone thinks its okay for him to lead our nation. Will the democrats please explain the logic of this one. Because I am stumped!
jmailman1999...........and you too are SO wrong! Plenty of criticism by the media, especially the Fox Network and right wing pundits like Sean Hannity, the drug abuser (can't think of his name at the moment....and don't want to!), Michael Savage and their ilk. And if you had bothered to do some research you would have uncovered plenty of criticism of Senator Obama by the "biased" liberal media.
As to your statement that "Americans want.... healthcare for their whole family..."..............damn straight they do! You and your conservative cronies would deny health care to anyone who does not look like you and the sea of white faces we saw at the RNC! Folks like you disgust me!
jmailman1999 said "The media seems to want a weak leader when our nation needs just the oppisite, an extremely powerful leader."
Excuse me?! We've needed a powerful leader for the past eight years and have been severely let down! You want four more years of that?! It will bring the country to its knees! Senator Obama would change the course of this country for the better, without a doubt!
Sarah Palin's acceptance speech was written by GW's speechwriter, by the way, just an indication of things to come if she and McCain are elected.
Patrick- Our country is in the shape it is in now primarily because of the fact your little democrat friends screwed everything up! Bill Clinton stole money from the military which made our country weak. 9/11 was being planned during Clintons administration. Our economy is bad because of the banking crisis. Your little buddy obama will do more damage to the economy the first year in office than bush has done in the past 8 years. Healthcare can't be forced onto people. Some people are not making the thousands it takes to buy it. McCain wants to give tax credits to those who invest into it. Obama wants to force it onto everyone and make it a law. Then they will tell you where you can and can't go and see the doctor. But when you end up losing your job because of obama and his non sense ideas, don't come crying! Just a advanced warning from one arctic cam viewer to anther!
How dare you provide factual information that contradicts my uninformed opinions of Sarah Palin, Daily News-Miner!
You liberal-media meanies!
B...b...b...BUT CLINTON!!!
Plus, don't get me wrong, Bush has made mistakes. But mostly those mistakes have been because of the intelligence that was provided to him. Obama was for the war then against it. He flip flops more then the shoes on my feet! I will say that Obama is a great speaker. He wants to kick people off of welfare that are able to work. These are two great qualities about him. Yet they are not enough to make me vote for him. Unlike the democrats, I can find good and bad about each party. The democrats will take the credit for the good and push the blame on the bad. Oh yeah, and about how people like me disgust you, guess what, the feeling is mutual!
jmailman:
"Bush has made mistakes. But mostly those mistakes have been because of the intelligence that was provided to him. Obama was for the war then against it."
Hello, pot? Meet kettle! Obama based his support for the war on that same intelligence, provided in some part by BUSH himself. You can't have it both ways, here.
inchworm- The intelligence was wrong. But based on the intelligence provided both bush and Obama supported the war. After everyone found out that the intelligence was wrong, the democrats changed their mind in the middle of the war. Its not bush's fault. Why wont the democrats agree with this. Its not the democrats nor the republicans fault. Its the intelligence fault. But obama and his buddies wont agree to this instead they blame it all on bush! Grow up democrats! And no, I am not a republican. I am a Independent!
jmailman:
It is partially Bush's fault because he did not determine the accuracy of the intelligence before calling for a war. He has also steadfastly refused to admit any responsibility for the mess that wrong intelligence got this country into. And the cries of "Flip flop!" when minds were changed by the TRUTH is just as insulting. Who among us has not changed our mind about some issue when the truth has come to light? And my opinion on that goes for every politician who has changed their mind when new information has come to light, not just in this case. It does not, however, go for all the politicians who change their position solely for political gain.
Patrick Kerber 9/6/2008, 4:47 p.m. Suggest removal jmailman1999...........and you too are SO wrong! Plenty of criticism by the media, especially the Fox Network and right wing pundits like Sean Hannity, the drug abuser (can't think of his name at the moment....and don't want to!), Michael Savage and their ilk. And if you had bothered to do some research you would have uncovered plenty of criticism of Senator Obama by the "biased" liberal media.
As to your statement that "Americans want.... healthcare for their whole family..."..............damn straight they do! You and your conservative cronies would deny health care to anyone who does not look like you and the sea of white faces we saw at the RNC! Folks like you disgust me!
ARE YOU CALLING ME A RACIST? BECAUSE I AM NOT AND NEVER WILL BE. I HAVE FRIENDS WHO "DO NOT LOOK LIKE ME." I HOPE YOU COME BACK ON HERE AND READ THIS! THIS COMMENT IS UNBELIEVABLE. I GUESS ITS JUST I HAVE NEVER BEEN CALLED A RACIST BEFORE!
Hey jailman1999, you have it exactly right. Barack Hussein Obama is so ably supported by the EXTREME Socialist University trained "Journalist Graduates" because they have been thoroughly indoctrinated into the Socialist (they use the more innocuous buzz word description of "PROGRESSIVE" but they do not tell us the other half - They are those who seek to progress America into a MARXIST Third World Ghetto.
I love how they say on the one hand that folks like you "DISGUST THEM" and then in their very next next breath they continue trying to persuade you as if you are too BLOODY STUPID to understand that they think of you as simply a MORON! Then they say, "Oh yes the Palin Speech was written by a GWB Speech Writer".... What is really funny is that the MARXISTS do not admit that their marionette, or SLAVE if one prefers, is Barack Hussein Obama. The moneyed folks who have set him up as a paragon of "Hope & Change and a Tire Pressure Gauge is all you need to run your car" Marxist Candidate expect those of us that they derisively call "Fly Over Country" to BLINDLY and STUPIDLY follow them like the brain dead OXEN that they think that we are.
The Chicago Political Disinformation groups so not admit what we all know, that is that Barack Hussein Obama cannot speak in nice complete coherent sentences UNLESS BILL CLINTON's or other similar highly paid disinformation "speech writers" actually put down what Barack Hussein Obama is to say in a SCRIPT because the SLAVE of the MARXISTS, Barack Hussein Obama is too DENSE to actually formulate his own coherent thoughts "on the fly".
Alaskans are not misled by the idiocy of the Marxists who seek to deprive us all of our God Given Freedoms. Barack Husseins Obama is an idiot Slave compared to the Real human being that Sarah Louise Palin is. Pretty obvious to all but the most blind.
Hey Andrew! Great to hear from you! The democrat liberals have been on here arguing for the longest time! I am proud not to sink to their level. I can't believe I was called a racist. That is one comment that really ticked me off! Oh well, thats the way the democrat liberals are. They take the credit when things go good and when things go wrong, the push the blame elsewhere!
McCain and Palin in 2008!
I was amazed at how the Marxists are obviously disturbed that you, jailman1999 are not drinking of the brain dead kool-aid of the Barack Hussein Obama. Like you I believe that George W. Bush could have done any number of things better, however given the choice between George W. Bush and Al Gore (the inventor of the internet - LOL) and later between George W. Bush and the twin TOILETS, John & John, George has done a whole lot of things RIGHT; beginning with his selection of Justices to The United States Supreme Court & continuing with his Tax plans & concluding with his response to imperialist islamic attacks on America and on other freedom loving peoples such as the Spanish (who became instantly spineless after the Madrid Train Bombings) to the British who have not lost their GONADS to the Philippinoes and the Australians who are not putting up with the imperialist islamics.
I, like you and millions of others, are not blind to the shortcomings of our current politicians, however, neither am I misled by the George Soros funded and Marxist succored & trained marionette, Barack Hussein Obama. That the Universities are helping the Marxists in their endeavors to tax the "heck" out of income earners and to give the money to their brain dead, and government parasitic (like them) constituency is so obvious that the Media and its pseudo-intellectuals have to continually work hard to try and convince common sense Americans that the University and its trained "anointed leaders of tomorrow" are correct and the average common sense American is just too bloody IGNORANT to "know any better; "PITY THE FOOLS." How arrogant and (*wait for it*) AUDACIOUS.
I also am a "PERSON OF COLOR" since I am an American and both my mother and father are 100% Mexican, and I am unmistakably BROWN, so at least according to the ""Political Correct guidelines" I should, just like Jesse Jackson and the Reverend Al Sharpton, be INCAPABLE OF BEING RACIST...... Laughable, isn't it! LOL
Stay true to your honest convictions an do not let the Marxists get you down. that they are PILING ONTO YOU is indicative of how big of a concern you and other correct thinking Americans are to them and their Marxist agenda. Keep the faith; and God Bless.
By the way jmailman1999, I apologize that I messed up your name.
:-)
Hey Andrew! Since you came on here, they have shut their mouth! It would appear they can't take on the two of us! I love leaving them speechless! Have a great evening!
Go McCain and Palin in 2008
Andrew, did they ban you from your posts in your hometown in California? Just curious to know if they cut off your clearly racist conspiracy theories in the name of good taaste...
Once again, I come for the story. I stay for the crazy...
Andrew, every once in a while you say something that resonates with me and I start to think that you and I could just have an honest difference of opinion. But then you go and label all Democrats Marxists and imply that we are brainwashed and have no common sense. In my mind, these reckless, stupid generalizations do two things: they diminish your credibility, and they remind me of George "if you don't support me you're not a patriot" Bush. (By the way, I feel similarly about Democrats who throw around insults [think John Edwards--every other word out of his mouth is "neo-con"]. It is absolutely unhelpful.)
I post where I think appropriate and as an Alaska Attorney I am interested in all things Alaskan. So if you do not like what you read, not to worry. Things are transitory but as Sarah Palin and John McCain intimated, I also see that our task is to leave the world better than we found it. Barack Hussein Obama and his sycophants will not do that so I post to highlight their idiocy.
Regards tok242
The media attributes $26.9 M in earmarks to the City of Wasilla. Looking at earmarks for the area, all federal spending is automatically attributed to Mayor Palin. Yet most of the money is AKRR, AKDOT and other projects. (Data from Taxpayers for Common Sense)
$27,250,000 attributed to Wasilla area during 1996-2002 including AKRR, DOT, Borough, City, etc. on the data sheet
$5,750,000 might be assigned to the City of Wasilla requests
$21,500,000 others
Specifics:
Not City Earmarks (?)
$1,000,000 Transportation FY2000 Wasilla intermodal facility
$15,000,000 Transportation FY2001 Girdwood to Wasilla, Alaska, commuter rail project
$500,000 Transportation FY2002 Federal lands: Mat-Su Borough/Wasilla, Alaska
$2,500,000 Transportation FY2002 New starts: Wasilla, Alaska, alternative route project
$900,000 Omnibus FY2003 Wasilla Intermodal Facility
$800,000 Omnibus FY2003 Wasilla Airport, AK
$800,000 Omnibus FY2003 Mananuska-Susitna Borough for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla, Alaska
City Earmarks (?)
$500,000 VA-HUD FY2001 Kids are People, Inc. for a transitional living program for homeless youth and an emergency shelter in Wasilla, Alaska
$500,000 Omnibus FY2001 Life Quest Community Mental Health Center in Wasilla, Alaska
$1,000,000 CJS FY2002 Wasilla Regional Dispatch Center in Alaska for technology and communications upgrades
$600,000 Transportation FY2002 Bus and bus facilities: City of Wasilla bus facility
$1,500,000 VA-HUD FY2002 Wasilla, Alaska water and sewer improvements
$750,000 Omnibus FY2003 City of Wasilla, Alaska for a regional dispatch center
$900,000 Omnibus FY2003 Wasilla, Alaska for water and sewer improvements
Andrew...yes, keep your eyes on that real estate.
If you truly thought your duty was to leave the world a better place you would not try to bully people into believing your wild theories. But that is what you generally rely on.
"Hey Andrew! Since you came on here, they have shut their mouth! It would appear they can't take on the two of us! I love leaving them speechless! Have a great evening!"
No, actually some people have lives and families that mean more to them than an online comment section of a small-town newspaper. But keep enjoying that inflated opinion you hold of yourself.
Andrew Briseno.......an attorney? Where....in Outer Mongolia, perhaps? Strange how a Google search of your name comes up with ZERO hits! Any practicing attorney's name should come up with something......anything!
And if you are an attorney, you don't act like the education level you purport to be at.
OMG, A Briseno, you're a *lawyer*???
I just simply couldn't believe this, so I looked you up.
Scary. Scarier than hell. You're registered as an active out-of-state member of the Alaska Bar Association.
Oh
My
God!!!
Your comments here show you to be nothing but a lunatic. To think that you actually represent people in the court of law.
My world paradigm didn't just shift, it had a major seismic event.
OMG . . .
Well, either he's a lawyer in Saugus, CA or he's an 18 year old in Texas. I lean towards the 18 year old, but either way, while I don't mind out-of-staters commenting and providing input, it's always good to get an outside opinion, it does really makes you wonder when someone from outside posts on almost every single blog every day.
WOW heres a shock another newsminer story complaining about Palin.
Hey Rob are you even from here? Or are you kissing your bosses butt in the hopes of getting a transfer south?
I am just wonering why 99% of every article in this "newspaper" seems to be negative towards our Govenor? If she is this horrible then why on earth did it take you this long to start reporting it?
Could it be that your owner doesn't like her as GOP VP nominee? And now suddenly after 1.5 years you have all these editorials telling us how awful she is? Maybe I am wrong but looking back I don't see many negative Palin reports but lately they are evrywhere! This is a local paper where was the reporting before she was the VP nominee?
I said it before i will say it again I miss the days when this was a LOCALLY owned newspaper and not owned by some coporation down south with their own agenda.
Speaking as a person from the lower "48", I am reading this and the ADN as well as your comments to try to learn more about Gov. Palin. I discern that many of the people commenting think that the writer of the column wrote an article that was unfair to Gov. Palin, but they are unable to explain why the column was unfair. The article seemed to point out that Alaska's revenues have increased and so have its expenditures. Is that true? It would help if you would answer that question with some facts. Also, speak respectfully. No one has to make a long trip to Alaska to hear name calling and rants against Clinton and Obama. There is more than enogh of that down here. WE are interested on your inside information about your governor. If you think she has done a good job and is ready to be President, why don't you explain your reasons for those feelings? She may be President someday. You can make everyone feel better with some well reasoned postings-not by name calling rants.
Post a comment
Commenting requires registration.