Changes

===Other Criticisms===

===Other Criticisms===

Critics of Palin have pointed out that in the first 19 months as Governor, she billed Alaska taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home, charging against a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090803088.html?hpid=topnews</ref> In later submissions Palin removed explicit references to staying at her personal home, but submitted for the per diem allowance anyway <ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/09/09/GR2008090900280.html?sid=ST2008090900325&s_pos=list</ref><br />The submission and reimbursement for these expenses is permitted because her official "duty station" as Governor is Juneau. However, Palin's use of tax dollars to reimburse her for staying in her own home while calling it business travel appears to be at odds with her image as a reformer and fiscal disciplinarian.<br /><br />In the past, per diem claims by Alaska state officials have carried political risks. In 1988, the head of the state Commerce Department was pilloried for collecting a per diem charge of $50 while staying in his Anchorage home, according to local news accounts. The commissioner, the late Tony Smith, resigned amid a series of controversies.  "It was quite the little scandal," said Tony Knowles, the Democratic governor from 1994 to 2000. "I gave a direction to all my commissioners if they were ever in their house, whether it was Juneau or elsewhere, they were not to get a per diem because, clearly, it is and it looks like a scam -- you pay yourself to live at home," he said. <ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/09/politics/washingtonpost/main4429304.shtml?source=mostpop_story</ref>

Critics of Palin have pointed out that in the first 19 months as Governor, she billed Alaska taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home, charging against a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090803088.html?hpid=topnews</ref> In later submissions Palin removed explicit references to staying at her personal home, but submitted for the per diem allowance anyway <ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/09/09/GR2008090900280.html?sid=ST2008090900325&s_pos=list</ref><br />The submission and reimbursement for these expenses is permitted because her official "duty station" as Governor is Juneau. However, Palin's use of tax dollars to reimburse her for staying in her own home while calling it business travel appears to be at odds with her image as a reformer and fiscal disciplinarian.<br />In the past, per diem claims by Alaska state officials have carried political risks. In 1988, the head of the state Commerce Department was pilloried for collecting a per diem charge of $50 while staying in his Anchorage home, according to local news accounts. The commissioner, the late Tony Smith, resigned amid a series of controversies.  "It was quite the little scandal," said Tony Knowles, the Democratic governor from 1994 to 2000. "I gave a direction to all my commissioners if they were ever in their house, whether it was Juneau or elsewhere, they were not to get a per diem because, clearly, it is and it looks like a scam -- you pay yourself to live at home," he said. <ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/09/politics/washingtonpost/main4429304.shtml?source=mostpop_story</ref>

 

Under Palin's administration as mayor of Wasilla, victims of rape were made to pay for their own rape test kits at a cost of $300-$1200 apiece, if their insurance companies did not.  The Palin-appointed chief of Police at the time, Charlie Fannon, objected to a state law passed in 2000 by then-Governor Tony Knowles, which barred municipalities from charging the cost of tests to collect evidence of the crime.  Fannon did not agree with the new legislation, saying the law would require the city and communities to come up with more funds to cover the costs of the forensic exams.  At that time, the Palin administration had raised taxes to pay for a new sports center and hockey rink, but was billing rape victims for their tests. <ref>http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2000/05/23/news.txt</ref>

==Beliefs==

==Beliefs==