Palin's 'Millions' Don't Add Up

Sarah Palin said she resigned as governor in order to save the state "millions" in defending her from ethics violation suits--but the figure her staff provided seems to be inflated, reports the Anchorage Daily News. Her staff said costs from public records requests, ethics complaints, and issues surrounding Palin’s “Troopergate” investigation totaled $1.9 million, but most of that money is hourly wages of state employees who would have gotten paid anyway. "Is it a check that we wrote, no, but is it staff hours, yes," Palin's spokeswoman said. The total was calculated by adding up the hours attorneys on fixed salaries in the governor’s office spent tending to complaints. While these attorneys spent time chipping away at the massive pile of inquiries directed toward Palin, their work didn’t actually drain money from police officers, roads, and teachers as the governor claimed this week.