So What Did Palin Request in Federal Earmarks? Seal DNA Research!As we’ve mentioned elsewhere on TPM, Sarah Palin was not quite as conservative as she claims in her requests for earmarks. And here’s a great example from just this year.
According to Alaska’s 2009 catalog of earmark requests the state’s sea life are in great need of federal money. As Politico points out, Palin’s office requested $2 million in federal monies to study crab mating habits; $494,900 for the recreational halibut harvest and $3.2 million for seal genetics research.
Those requests for the study of wildlife genetics and mating habits seems pretty antithetical to the long-standig views of Palin’s running mate, John McCain.
“We’re not going to spend $3 million of your tax dollars to study the DNA of bears in Montana,” McCain said earlier this year, referring to a request from Montana for federal money to study the endangered grizzly bear. “I don’t know if it was a paternity issue or criminal, but it was a waste of money.”