Palin pays state for family travel

ANCHORAGE - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin reimbursed the state for more than $8,100 in costs associated with trips taken by her children.

Palin paid the state $8,143.62 on Friday for nine trips over two years involving her children, her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said Tuesday. Van Flein and state administrative director Linda Perez sent The Associated Press copies of the check and other documents of the transaction.

The reimbursement, due Tuesday, stems from a Feb. 23 agreement filed by an Alaska Personnel Board special investigator that resolved an ethics complaint alleging Palin abused her power by charging the state when her children traveled with her.

The personnel board found no wrongdoing, but Palin agreed to reimburse the state for costs associated with trips found to be of questionable state interest.

The board's investigator, Timothy Petumenos, said in his report there is little guidance under state rules to determine ethical standards for travel by the governor's immediate family. But he interpreted the law to require that the state pay only if the first family serves an important state interest.

Van Flein noted that Palin had followed historical practices on first family travel and that her travel requests were processed by the same administrators who processed requests for predecessors, Frank Murkowski and Tony Knowles.

"No one challenged Gov. Murkowski's or Governor Knowles' travel practices," Van Flein said in an e-mail. "The rules were, and are, being changed in midstream for Governor Palin. However, as noted in the agreement at the time 'the Governor wants to exceed minimum legal standards.'"

Anchorage resident Frank Gwartney, a Democrat, filed the complaint in late October. The filing closely followed a report by the AP that Palin charged the state more than $21,000 for her three daughters' commercial flights, including events where they weren't invited, and later ordered their expense forms amended to specify official state business.

At the time the complaint was filed, Palin was the Republican vice presidential candidate and after the February settlement called the grievance "an obvious political weapon."

As part of the settlement, the Alaska Department of Law was asked to develop specific rules clarifying when the state should pay for a governor's family travel. That effort is under way, with the goal to have a final draft by the end of the year, according to Judy Bockmon, an assistant attorney general.

Also on Tuesday, the governor's office announced the 15th dismissal of an ethics complaint against Palin or one of her staff.

The complaint, filed by outspoken Palin critic Andree McLeod, had alleged Kris Perry - director of the governor's Anchorage office - worked on state time to benefit Palin's interests during and after her quest as Republican John McCain's running mate in the presidential election. It was dismissed by then-acting Attorney General Richard Svobodny, who concluded an investigator found no evidence that Perry violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act as alleged by McLeod, who has filed four complaints against Palin or her staff. Three have been dismissed. The fourth is pending.

The governor's office said the complaint was filed even after Perry obtained an opinion from Perez, her ethics supervisor.

"It is outrageous to file an ethics complaint against a state employee who sought and obtained ethics guidance in advance," Mike Nizich, Palin's chief of staff, said in a prepared statement. "This is not about ethics. This is not about holding the governor or state employees accountable. This is pure harassment."

McLeod called the dismissal a "complete whitewash."

"The state refuses to acknowledge all of the evidence that point to Kris Perry campaigning on the state's dime and time," she said.

Van Flein said he did not handle the Perry complaint, but was familiar with it. He said McLeod "fundamentally misunderstands" the ethics law.

"The investigator concluded that Ms. Perry in fact was conducting state business and often donated her time in so doing," Van Flein said. "In other words, the state got free services from Ms. Perry. Further, Ms. Perry obtained advance ethics guidance giving her express permission from her ethics supervisor."