An April 2007 letter to Palin read: "I am writing to encourage you to do away with the Gravina Access Highway. At about $8 million per mile of public money, this is a fiscal mistake."
State officials said alternatives to the $398-million bridge could include improved ferry service or less costly bridges that would link to the Gravina road. "Gov. Palin understood that a more cost-efficient, sensible solution could still be implemented" in place of the original bridge plan, said Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for Palin's campaign.
On a clear day recently, Mayor Weinstein flew over Gravina Island, looking down on the nearly completed road. "When Sarah Palin goes on national television and says: 'I told Congress, "Thanks but no thanks," ' it's not true," he said. "The implication is we didn't take the money. But we did."
The mayor said he was considering posting a sign on the road for the rest of the world to see. He said it would read: "Built Under Gov. Sarah Palin, Paid for With Federal Earmarks."
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erika.hayasaki@latimes.com
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
The road: a timeline
Nov. 16, 2005: After mounting pressure over pork-barrel projects, Congress eliminates the earmark stipulating that $223 million destined for Alaska be spent building a bridge connecting Ketchikan to its airport on Gravina, a neighboring island that has 50 residents. Congress allows Alaska to keep the money and leaves it to the state to decide how to spend it.
Sept. 21, 2006: While running for governor, Palin tells Ketchikan residents, according to the Ketchikan Daily News: "The money that's been appropriated for the project, it should remain available for a link . . . to help Ketchikan expand its access to help this community prosper."
Oct. 2, 2006: Palin is quoted in the Ketchikan Daily News: "We need to come to the defense of southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge and not allow the spin-meisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative."
Nov. 7, 2006: Palin is elected governor.
June 2007: Alaska diverts much of the $223 million to other projects. Construction on a 3.2-mile "road to nowhere" begins. Alaska officials say they went forward with the $26-million Gravina highway, designed to connect to the bridge, because if they hadn't, they would have had to return the money to the federal government.
Sept. 21, 2007: Palin cancels the bridge project, which would have cost the state additional millions on top of the federal funds. "Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398-million bridge is not the answer," she says in a news release.
Aug. 29, 2008: McCain announces Palin is his running mate.
Sept. 3, 2008: In a speech at the Republican National Convention, Palin portrays herself as a reformer who had cut waste in government, saying, "I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that bridge to nowhere."
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-- Kate Linthicum
