Last year, the arbitrator ordered the city to pay $836,378 for the 80-acre parcel, far more than the $126,000 Wasilla originally thought it would pay for a piece of land 65 acres larger. The arbitrator also determined that the city owed Mr. Lundgren [the owner] $336,000 in interest. Wasilla's legal bill since the eminent domain action has come to roughly $250,000 so far, according to Mr. Klinkner, the city attorney.
Palin's Hockey Rink Leads To Legal Trouble in Town She Led - WSJ.com

and

"Palin, who portrays herself as a fiscal conservative, racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla — that amounts to $3,000 per resident. She argues that the debt was needed to fund improvements."
Dems armed with Palin opposition - Glenn Thrush - Politico.com

Clearly you're not fully informed and I'm confident that one of Palin's supporters will come along shortly to explain to you why you're wrong on this.

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Reading is Fundamental.

Does anyone know what the $20 million long term debt is for? I have not yet found anything that says exactly what the debt is for, several things, one thing, etc. The only thing I found was something about improvements.
I know in my city they will are looking at long term debt of millions for new school buildings/renovations, etc.

Mostly legal fees. The WSJ article explains.

Those numbers listed in that article is no where near $20 million. ETA: Ok I understand now.

edited to add:
according to the WSJ article a big portion "$14.7 million bond issue to pay for the sports center." that the public voted on.
"In a March 2002 referendum, residents approved the mayor's plan by a 20-vote margin, 306 to 286. The city cleared roads, installed utilities and made preparations to build."

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her six years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

About Sarah Palin | The LA Progressive

Oh man, can we please stop quoting the LA Progressive! They don't like Sarah Palin? Really!? Imagine a left wing, progressive activist sight posting numbers making her look bad.

It's kinda like if I posted this:


One Party’s Trash Is Another Party’s Treasure: McCain Camp Rescues Flags Thrown in Trash From DNC

One Party’s Trash Is Another Party’s Treasure: McCain Camp Rescues Flags Thrown in Trash From DNC : Stop The ACLU

So, are you the arbiter of exactly which sites are allowable on this site? I think not. Post your own links from your sites of choice...you cannot dictate what others care to post.

__________________
"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


"Yesterday is but a vision, and tomorrow is only a dream. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a dream of hope." Anonymous

"Your candle does not lose it's light by lighting another candle" Generosity

Have the courage to be yourself.

I'm not really dictating what people post. . .just merely pointing out how incredibly silly it is.

And I would NEVER post something from a completely biased source as if it was credible, right or left.

I could post all kinds of crazy stories with biased slants, BUT I am not interested in partisan rhetoric. Just the facts please!

How about this. . .everytime someone posts something from a completely biased source I will simply follow it with this:


****WARNING! The above post has been carefully plucked from a completely biased, uncredible source. Please feel free to take the 2 seconds to verify that for yourself.****

If you posted it? You DID post it, in fact, and it's a bunch of lies. Contrary to saving the flags, the Republicans showed their family values by stealing them.

Republicans Steal Flags

Anyone can see that those flags weren't simply dumped, they were carefully rolled and placed in the bags to be moved. You don't neatly roll up and stack flags you're going to throw away.

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Reading is Fundamental.

Next time you quote me, please quote the entire text.

I was pointing out how silly it is to post such biased links!

But since you brought up the neatly rolled up flag thing. . .

I didn't misquote you at all, and the pictures you post are not the ones in the article.

If you didn't MEAN to post the untruthful story, why did you provide the link? Your point could have been made without posting a link. The fact that someone cleaning up after the DNC found a few flags and put them in the trash does not indicate that the DNC tosses dozens, as your link said.

I'm 100% confident you would have found more than a few (stolen from the DNC) flags in the trash after the RNC convention.


You're biased, we all know it. I'm biased, too, but I don't try to deny it.

Just stop pretending to be some above-it-all neutral party.

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Reading is Fundamental.

I didn't say you misquoted me. But you did partially quote me in a way that misrepresented the intention of my original post.

In no way, shape or form was I supportin the DNC flag story. In fact, I was kinda poking fun at it! I did just previously post this:

I thought I made it pretty clear that I posted the link, AS AN EXAMPLE, of a biased link.

In essence, so it's REALLY clear, I said a post with a link to a biased site (like the LA Progressive) IS KINDA LIKE a post with a link from a biased site (like Stop the ACLU). I was pointing out how silly BOTH of them are!

As far as the pics, I have no idea. . .I searched Photobucket for "DNC flags."

And that story was created by the oh so fair and balanced Fox network.

Read above post.

The letter itself is all over the net. The LA Progressive is just one source. It's the letter writer's opinion and contains no bias that I can see. The letter writer has generated a lot of interest and will be interviewed by the morning shows ect. shortly.

I wouldn't be so quick to discount it.

I am extremely skeptical about anything coming from a biased source, as I think I have cleary shown.

I did find this. And I consider Snopes to be very reliable.

snopes.com: Alaskans' Opinions on Sarah Palin


The letter is real, from an Ann Kilkenny. They spoke with her directly and she explains her motivation for writing the letter. There are also three other letters on the sight. One very positive one from a Debbie Frost, a Wassila resident; another positive one from a Butch King, Wildman Lake Lodge owner; and a negative one from a Jackie S., who they havent' been able to identify yet.

Yesterday, Sarah Palin repeated her misleading love story to herself about "thanks, but not thanks" on the Bridge to Nowhere. She said no to the bridge -- after it was dead and gone, but yes to the money. And now Alaska is building an access road on Gravina Island to service that non-existent bridge -- WTH? Because otherwise the money would have gone back to the federal government. Better wasted than returned, I guess, is her theory. Fiscal conservative? Not so much.

Palin pushed to increase taxes on oil companies (guess who's going to end up paying it?). Palin decided those fund should be distributed as $1,200 to each and every Alaskan -- yep, even Trig gets it -- instead of being used for infrastructure, which she herself said the state needed. Instead, that money comes from federal earmarks -- which means that instead of Alaskans paying for Alaskan improvements, residents of the other 49 states are doing so. Fiscal conservative? With Alaskan's money, yes. With everyone else's? Not so much.

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Reading is Fundamental.

Alaska gets about $500 per head in earmarks. The rest of the states about $50 per head.

In case you missed it, here it is again:

FactCheck.org: The Party's Over

About half way through it says:

Yes she changed her mind on the bridge. No, she wasn't required to spend it on the bridge to keep the money. Yes, she spent it on other transportation projects.

Let me guess. . .Factcheck is biased too??

Edited to add: here is the link to The National Conference of State Legislator's:Surface Transportation Funding Options for States

http://www.ncsl.org/print/transportation/item014233.pdf

It's 122 pages but it describes exactly what the laws/ guidelines are for state earmarks for transportation funding.

Yes, I know. Which means she's out there repeating her lie day after day.

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Reading is Fundamental.

Hmmm. . .so even though Snopes and FactCheck has debunked it, it's still "she's out there repeating her lie day after day?"

BTW. . .what exactly is "the lie" she is repeating day after day? Just so we're clear on the matter.

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

During her gubernatorial campaign, Palin actively sought the funds for the bridge to nowhere. The costs rose to the point that Alaska would have had to pay the bulk of the money. Because of the cost, she cancelled the bridge project but accepted the funds. She used the funds for other highway projects including the construction of a road to where the bridge would have started. Do you see now how her claim is false?

Palin touts stance on 'Bridge to Nowhere,' doesn't note flip-flop: Gov. Sarah Palin | adn.com

NO. Sure, she sought the funds. All states do that. And then when the project became fiscally unfeasible she nixed the bridge project and used the money for other transportation projects, which is totally within the parameters of the federal funding.

What exactly is the false claim she is making?

__________________
"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

I assume that you are a so called conservative. This is pork. And, she is indeed fibbing. She said it again today.

From the WSJ: Record Contradicts Palin's 'Bridge' Claims - WSJ.com

TNR: 'She Stopped the Bridge to Nowhere' - The Stump

AP: Breaking news, opinion and commentary - Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

WaPo: Claiming the 'Maverick' Brand | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

This doesn't look fiscally conservative to me either:
"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.
The governor's daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel, and many of the trips were between their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show,"
washingtonpost.com

Ok. I'll concede to that if your saying that she is implying that she is anti-pork by saying she said no to Congress on the Bridge to Nowhere, and then went ahead and took the funds and used them on appropriate expenditures for her state.

I don't really see a problem with her accepting the funds and how they were used though. If you have a problem with the pork, that should be directed at Congress. They were the ones who allocated the funds. Most states are horribly underfunded when it comes to transportaion issues. They are all trying to get as much federal funding as they can to pay for their needs.

Palin is the govenor of Alaska, and as so, has an interest, no a reponsibility, to look out for the best interests of her state. On the other hand, Biden is a senator, and he is the one handing out the pork.

As word of Barack Obama’s vice presidential pick got out, the media, in lockstep, seized upon Senator Joseph Biden’s legislative experience and his knowledge of the inner workings of Washington. And it’s true that Senator Joe is a skillful legislator, especially at the earmark game: for 2008, Biden secured $85,545,205 in pork (according to Taxpayers for Common Sense) for everyone from defense contractors to police departments.
Biden, Pork, and the Drug War—By Ken Silverstein and Sebastian Jones (Harper's Magazine)

__________________
"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

The article states quite a bit more than that:

Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post. . .

Gubernatorial spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Monday that Palin's expenses are not unusual and that, under state policy, the first family could have claimed per diem expenses for each child taken on official business but has not done so.

Speaking from Palin's Anchorage office, Leighow said Palin dealt with the plane and also trimmed other expenses, including forgoing a chef in the governor's mansion because she preferred to cook for her family. The first family's travel is an expected part of the job, she said.

The state finance director, Kim Garnero, said Alaska law exempts the governor's office from elaborate travel regulations. Said Leighow: "The governor is entitled to a per diem, and she claims it."

Gov. Palin has spent far less on her personal travel than her predecessor: $93,000 on airfare in 2007, compared with $463,000 spent the year before by her predecessor, Frank Murkowski. He traveled often in an executive jet that Palin called an extravagance during her campaign. She sold it after she was sworn into office. . .

"She flies coach and encourages her cabinet to fly coach as well," said Garnero, whose job is equivalent to state controller. "Some do, some don't." Leighow said that the governor's staff has tallied the travel expenses charged by Murkowski's wife: $35,675 in 2006, $43,659 in 2005, $13,607 in 2004 and $29,608 in 2003. . .

But during the Murkowski years, that practice was questioned, and the state attorney general's office produced an opinion saying laws then in effect required reimbursement for spousal travel.

__________________
"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

And, taxpayers pay for her family to accompany her.

Yes, just like they do for all 49 other govenors' families.

__________________
"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

Not in my state.

Ok, edited to add in the states that have don't have laws prohibiting it.

__________________
"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

That is how it is done in Alaska.

State paid tab for Piper Palin flight: Alaska News | adn.com

ETA: Since I am not an Alaskan taxpayer I can't complain. That is their state rules.

She's fiscally conservative in your book? Sarah Palin's Alaskonomics - TIME

An article by Michael Kinsley, a liberal-pundit?

This is an op-ed piece.

I'd like to see more numbers and their sources.

__________________
"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm