McCain-Palin Camp Misled CNN On Road To Nowhere

Palin Defends Construction of ‘Road to Nowhere’
by Paul Kiel, ProPublica - September 25, 2008 5:37 pm EDT

After refusing to answer questions for more than a week about Gov. Sarah Palin's administration's construction of a $26 million dead-end road, a McCain campaign spokeswoman told CNN earlier this week that Gov. Palin had no choice. But Alaska and federal officials say otherwise, and the record shows that she canceled a comparable project.

As we reported in detail last week, Palin's administration oversaw the construction of the Gravina Island Highway, a 3.2-mile access road to the "Bridge to Nowhere." Since it was obvious in 2007 that the $398 million bridge from Gravina Island to Ketchikan would never be built, government watchdogs urged the Palin administration to put the brakes on the project. Construction began in June of 2007, more than six months after Palin took office, and completed last week.

The McCain campaign did not directly address our questions about the road, but on Tuesday, a CNN report (which includes some striking aerial shots of the empty cul-de-sac at the road's end, seen above) included a detailed response from the campaign. Spokeswoman Meg Stapleton explained that the governor "had no option" but to build the road, because an earmark had "dictated" that the money had to be spent on it.

When CNN pressed as to whether Palin could have stopped construction, Stapleton responded with a statement that "under ordinary circumstances, Gov. Palin would not have allowed the Gravina Road project to move forward, but given the federal earmark and because the contract for the road was already signed before she got into office, the governor was left no viable alternative."

But the governor did have a viable alternative. Gov. Frank Murkowski (R) signed the contract for the road on Dec. 1, 2006, three days before he left office. Palin could have cancelled that contract upon taking office, according to Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman Roger Wetherell. In such cases, contractors are reimbursed for any expenses incurred in association with the project.

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http://www.propublica.org/article/palin-defends-construction-of-road-to-nowhere-925/

I hope it goes viral.

action.

I've been saying that about her whole Wasilla $20 million debt. SOMEONE got that construction money. Given how she governs, there is VERY LIKELY an interesting story waiting to be uncovered there.

:kick:

I thought it was just the bridge.

McCain and Palin want to take the whole country down the road to nowhere.