[Vision2020] How Safe Would Taxpayer Money Be with Palin VP?

[Saundra Lund]

Palin at times blurred church-state line 
Records show she used taxpayer money to promote religious causes
The Associated Press
updated 6:21 p.m. PT, Sat., Oct. 11, 2008
WASILLA, Alaska - The camera closes in on Sarah Palin speaking to young
missionaries, vowing from the pulpit to do her part to implement God's will
from the governor's office.

What she didn't tell worshippers gathered at the Wasilla Assembly of God
church in her hometown was that her appearance that day came courtesy of
Alaskan taxpayers, who picked up the $639.50 tab for her airplane tickets
and per diem fees.

An Associated Press review of the Republican vice presidential candidate's
record as mayor and governor reveals her use of elected office to promote
religious causes, sometimes at taxpayer expense and in ways that blur the
line between church and state.

Since she took state office in late 2006, the governor and her family have
spent more than $13,000 in taxpayer funds to attend at least 10 religious
events and meetings with Christian pastors, including Franklin Graham, the
son of evangelical preacher Billy Graham, records show.

Palin was baptized Roman Catholic as a newborn and baptized again in a
Pentecostal Assemblies of God church when she was a teenager. She has
worshipped at a nondenominational Bible church since 2002, opposes abortion
even in cases of rape and incest and supports classroom discussions about
creationism.

'Let's strike this deal'
Since she was named as John McCain's running mate, Palin's deep faith and
support for traditional moral values have rallied conservative voters who
initially appeared reluctant to back his campaign.

On a weekend trip from the capital in June, a minister from the Wasilla
Assembly of God blessed Palin and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell before a crowd
gathered for the "One Lord Sunday" event at the town's hockey rink. Later in
the day, she addressed the budding missionaries at her former church.

"As I'm doing my job, let's strike this deal. Your job is going be to be out
there, reaching the people - (the) hurting people - throughout Alaska," she
told students graduating from the church's Masters Commission program. "We
can work together to make sure God's will be done here."

A spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, Maria Comella, said the state
paid for Palin's travel and meals on that trip, and for other meetings with
Christian groups, because she and her family were invited in their official
capacity as Alaska's first family. Parnell did not charge the state a per
diem or ask to be reimbursed for travel expenses that day.

"I understand the per diem policy is, I can claim it if I am away from my
residence for 12 hours or more. And Anchorage is where my residence is and
I'm based from. And this trip took about four hours of driving time and time
at the event, so I did not claim per diem for this one," Parnell told the
AP.

Palin and her family billed the state $3,022 for the cost of attending
Christian gatherings exclusively, including visits to the Assembly of God
and to the congregation they attend in Juneau, according to expense reports
reviewed by the AP.

Experts say those trips fall into an ethically gray area, since Democrats
and Republicans alike often visit religious venues for personal and official
reasons.


J. Brent Walker, who runs a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for
church-state separation, said based on a reporter's account, Palin's June
excursion raised questions.

"Politicians are entitled to freely exercise their religion while in office,
but ethically if not legally that part of her trip ought to not be charged
to taxpayers," said Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint
Committee for Religious Liberty. "It's still fundamentally a religious and
spiritual experience she is having."

Other multi-day trips
The Palins billed the state an additional $10,094 in expenses for other
multi-day trips that included worship services or religiously themed events,
but also involved substantial state business, including the governor's
inaugural ball and an oil and gas conference in New Orleans.

Palin also submitted $998 in expenses for a June trip to Anchorage that
included a bill signing at Congregation Beth Shalom synagogue, the only
non-Christian house of worship she has visited since taking office,
according to the McCain campaign.

In response to an AP request, Comella provided a list showing that since
January 2007 the governor had attended 25 "faith-based events," including
funerals and community meetings held at churches. Many did not appear on the
governor's schedule or her travel records.

Palin has said publicly her personal opinions don't "bleed on over into
policies."

Still, after the AP reported the governor had accepted tainted donations
during her 2006 campaign, she announced she would donate the $2,100 to three
charities, including an Anchorage nonprofit aimed at "sharing God's love" to
dissuade young women from having abortions.

An AP review of her time as mayor, from late 1996 to 2002, also reveals a
commingling of church and state.


Records of her mayoral correspondence show that Palin worked arduously to
organize a day of prayer at city hall. She said that with local ministers'
help, Wasilla - a city of 7,000 an hour's drive north of Anchorage - could
become "a light, or a refuge for others in Alaska and America."

"What a blessing that the Lord has already put into place the Christian
leaders, even though I know it's all through the grace of God," she wrote in
March 2000 to her former pastor. She thanked him for the loan of a video
featuring a Kenyan preacher who later would pray for her protection from
witchcraft as she sought higher office.

In that same period, she also joined a grass-roots, faith-based movement to
stop the local hospital from performing abortions, a fight that ultimately
lost before the Alaska Supreme Court.

Palin's former church and other evangelical denominations were instrumental
in ousting members of Valley Hospital's board who supported abortion rights
- including the governor's mother-in-law, Faye Palin.

Alaska Right to Life Director Karen Lewis, who led the campaign, said Palin
wasn't a leader in the movement initially. But by 1997, after she had been
elected mayor, Palin joined a hospital board to make sure the abortion ban
held while the courts considered whether the ban was legal, Lewis said.

"We kept pro-life people like Sarah on the association board to ensure
children of the womb would be protected," Lewis said. "She's made up of this
great fiber of high morals and godly character, and yet she's fearless.
She's someone you can depend on to carry the water."

Court ruling
In November 2007, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that because the hospital
received more than $10 million in public funds it was "quasi-public" and
couldn't forbid legal abortions.

Comella said Palin joined the hospital's broader association in the
mid-1990s. Records show she was elected to the nonprofit's board in 2000.

Ties among those active at the time still run deep: In November, Palin was a
keynote speaker at Lewis' "Proudly Pro-Life Dinner" in Anchorage, and the
governor billed taxpayers a $60 per diem fee for her work that day.


Palin also is one of just two governors who channeled federal money to
support religious groups through a state agency, Alaska's Office of
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Palin has made it a priority to unite
faith communities, local nonprofits and government to serve the needy,
bringing her high marks - and $500,000 - from the Bush administration.

In fiscal year 2008, Alaska was one of only four states to receive $500,000
in federal grant money from the national initiative.

"The governor has a healthy appreciation for faith-based groups that serve
Alaskans in need," said Jay Hein, who until recently directed national
faith-based initiatives at the White House. "The grant speaks to their
organizational strength, and the dynamism of Alaska's operation."

Several Catholic and Christian charities received funding, including $20,000
for a Fairbanks homeless shelter that views itself as a "stable door of
evangelism and Christian service" and $36,000 for a drop-in center at an
Anchorage mall that seeks to demonstrate "the unconditional love of Jesus to
teenagers."

The state ensures all faith-based groups keep a strict separation between
their work in the community and their prayer services to ensure recipients
don't feel coerced, said Tara Horton, a special assistant to the Alaska
Department of Health and Social Services. Though staffers reached out to
nonprofits and religious groups of many faiths, mostly Christian
organizations applied for funding, she said.

In June, when Alaska legislators decided to cut $712,000 in state support
for the office, Parnell sent lawmakers an urgent letter asking them to put
it back in the budget. A small portion of state funding was later restored.

"Gov. Palin is motivated by the needs out there, and faith-based and
community initiatives are a great way to do that," Parnell said. "It matters
not to state government what religion people belong to, so long as they are
serving the public and the money they receive is used appropriately."

Still, a state worker who directs an Anchorage-based group that advocates
for church-state separation, Lloyd Eggan, said Palin's administration hasn't
done enough to assure voters that government money doesn't support ministry.

"That sort of thing is exactly what courts have said is barred by the First
Amendment," Eggan said.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27134586