Palin Charges Alaska for Kids

We all know that Sarah Palin charged the AK taxpayers a per diem for living in her own home.  Now it is revealed that she charged the State for the travel of her children as well:

Gov. Sarah Palin 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.

In all, 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.

...

After Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin his running mate and reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters' travel.

Ouch. There she goes again editing expense reports after the fact. Worst. Vetting. Ever.

And what kind travel was this, exactly?

In October 2007, Palin brought daughter Bristol along on a trip to New York for a women's leadership conference. Plane tickets from Anchorage to La Guardia Airport for $1,385.11 were billed to the state, records show, and mother and daughter shared a room for four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House hotel, which overlooks Central Park.

They stayed in that hotel for 5 nights, even though her involvement with the conferences lasted only 1. Nice vacation, eh?

In July, the governor charged the state $2,741.26 to take Bristol and Piper to Philadelphia for a meeting of the National Governors Association. The girls had their own room for five nights at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for $215.46 a night, expense records show.

Expense forms describe the girls' official purpose as "NGA Governor's Youth Programs and family activities." But those programs were activities designed to keep children busy, a service provided by the NGA to accommodate governors and their families, NGA spokeswoman Jodi Omear said.

And finally, let's remember what we learned during the "Palin Paid to Live at Home" mini-scandal:

The IRS also strictly forbids deductions for expenses incurred bringing a spouse and kids along on a business trip. Tax authorities say any reimbursement for travel costs for family members would likely incur income taxes.

She's a tax cheat just like Joe the Plumber! God, it's good to have a Real American running for office, isn't it?