I can't say it much better than Radley Balko in
this post to Reason Magazine's blog
Hit and Run.
The Anchorage Daily News tells us that the money for the so-called "bridge to nowhere", was not returned but is now being used to build a road to nowhere.
The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They're still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin's subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects -- and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.
"I think that's when the campaign for national office began," said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone -- because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government.
Now it appears that some Alaska Republicans are angry over Palin's actions and say she is playing politics for her own benefit while Alaska's infrastructure suffers.
Bert Stedman, a Sitka Republican who represents Ketchikan in the state Senate, told the Ketchikan Daily News he was proud to see Palin picked for the vice-president's role, but disheartened by her reference to the bridge.
"In the role of governor, she should be pursuing a transportation policy\ that benefits the state of Alaska, (rather than) pandering to the southern 48," he said.
Businessman\r\nMike Elerding, who helped run Palin's local campaign for governor, told the paper he would have a hard time voting for the McCain ticket because of Palin's subsequent neglect of Ketchikan and her flip-flop on "Ralph Bartholomew Veterans Memorial Bridge."
Not exactly "country first" but more like politics as usual. Up next: Palin faces
"Troopergate" as soon as Friday.