Sarah Palin defends efforts to get federal earmarks for Alaska
She tells ABC's Charles Gibson that her requests were made 'in an open fashion' and that Alaska has drastically reduced its requests for the funds.
Sarah Palin said today that as Alaska's governor, she has drastically reduced the number of earmarks the her state has requested. But she defended her efforts to secure federal money for state projects.
In the last of three interviews with ABC News' Charles Gibson, Palin defended her credentials as a governor who has shunned federal earmarks, funding inserted into legislation by individual lawmakers. The taped segments, broadcast during several ABC news shows, are the most extensive interviews Palin has given since she was nominated by Republicans to run for vice president.
Palin's comments took on an added urgency today after GOP presidential nominee John McCain, who strongly opposes earmarks, mistakenly asserted in a television appearance that she had not sought the earmarks as governor.
When Palin was announced as McCain's vice presidential choice, she said: "I have championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress." Democrats have challenged her on the issue ever since and have complained about how she presented her position on one of the controversial earmarks, "the bridge to nowhere."
"We have drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request since I came into office," Palin told Gibson today.
Citing federal figures, Gibson said that Alaska got $231 per person in earmarks in 2008, compared with $22 per person in Illinois, the home of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.
Gibson said Alaska had sought "$3.2 million for researching the genetics of harbor seals, money to study the mating habits of crabs. Isn't that exactly the kind of thing that John McCain is objecting to?"
Palin defended the request, arguing it had been made in an open fashion instead of behind closed doors.
"That's the abuse that we're going to stop. That's what John McCain has promised over and over for these years," said Palin, who condemned "the abuse of earmarks, it's un-American, it's undemocratic, and it's not going to be accepted in a McCain-Palin administration. Earmark abuse will stop."
In an earlier television appearance on "The View," McCain said that Palin would help him change Washington, in part by putting a stop to earmarks. When co-host Barbara Walters pointed out that Palin had requested earmarks of her own, McCain inaccurately interjected: "Not as governor she didn't."
Palin submitted nearly $200 million in requests this year for earmarked projects.
