How does an alleged fighter against earmarks and government waste justify allowing a 26 million dollar roads project, designed to complement the proposed 'bridge to nowhere,' to go forward?
As today's Los Angeles Times documents,
The 3.2-mile-long partially paved "road to nowhere" meanders from a small international airport on Gravina Island (pictured above), home to 50 people, ending in a cul-de-sac close to a beach.
Crews are working to finish it. But no one knows when anyone will need to drive it.
...in 2006, Palin stood before residents in this region during her gubernatorial campaign and expressed support for the bridge. It became apparent after she was elected that the state's portion would be too costly, and Palin ordered transportation officials to abandon the project.
She held on to the $223 million in federally earmarked funds for other uses, such as the Gravina road, approved by her predecessor.
Check out these telling comments, from the same article:
Susan Walsh, a nurse who lives on Gravina Island, remembers attending that Chamber of Commerce meeting. When Palin withdrew her support for the bridge, Walsh figured the road project would have died with it. "It was just stupid," she said.
Jacob, the woman who has been protesting the road for two years with a letter-writing campaign on behalf of the Tongass Conservation Society in Ketchikan, says: "We begged her to stop."
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."
How will Sarah Palin and John McCain talk their way out of this one?
You can access the full Los Angeles Times article here.
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