Palin to pay Alaska nearly $7,000 for kids' trips
Alaska Gov Sarah Palin, last year's Republican vice presidential candidate, will reimburse the state nearly $7,000 for costs associated with nine trips taken by her children, her attorney said.
Alaska Gov Sarah Palin, last year's Republican vice presidential candidate, will reimburse the state nearly $7,000 for costs associated with nine trips taken by her children, her attorney said.
Palin must reimburse the state within 120 days, according to a settlement agreement filed by a special investigator hired by the Alaska Personnel Board to investigate an ethics complaint filed against her.
The exact amount will be determined by the Alaska Department of Administration, said Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein. He estimated the amount would be $6,800.
There is no state law prohibiting the governor's family from traveling with her and the personnel board found no wrongdoing on the part of the governor. But the investigator, Timothy Petumenos, interpreted the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act to require that state only pay if the first family serves an important state interest.
Petumenos said "some of the travel raised by the Complaint does not meet this standard," according to the agreement.
Van Flein said 72 travel authorizations were studied, with nine found to be of questionable state interest.
Those include airfare and one meal for her daughter Bristol Palin, who accompanied the governor to New York for Newsweek's Third Annual Women and Leadership Conference in October 2007.