Alaska’s earmarks include $1.2 million for an airport on Akutan Island, population: 800…but hey, you can almost see Russia from there!

Sarah Palin, who tried to deny soliciting pork barrel funds for Alaska during her ill-fated run for the vice presidency under John McCain, has taken a new crown: Earmark Queen. Mother Jones:

…Alaska will receive more money, per capita, from the bill’s earmarks than any other state. (Alaska will pocket $209.71 for each state resident.) One hundred earmarks in the bill, worth a total of $143.9 million, are tagged for Palin’s state.

…Palin introduced herself to America by declaring she was a foe of wasteful spending who had “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.” She claimed that she had said “thanks, but no thanks” to America’s most infamous earmark, the Bridge to Nowhere. During the presidential campaign, McCain railed incessantly against earmarks, at one point thundering that if he made it to White House, “I will take an ink pen and I will veto every pork barrel earmark spending bill that comes across my desk.”

In trying to beat back the omnibus spending bill, McCain denounced earmarking as a “corrupt practice.” And he employed the timeworn tactic of publicly mocking silly sounding appropriations…

The earmarks that Palin apparently will accept could also be ridiculed in a McCain-ish fashion. They include $475,000 to construct a “heritage center” in the Chilkat Indian Village…$200,000 for investigating and prosecuting bootlegging; $200,000 for researching the king crab; and $855,000 for building fairgrounds. The Alaska earmarks also include $1.2 million for construction work on an airport on Akutan, a tiny island that relies on seaplane for contact with the Alaskan mainland. (The Coast Guard handles medical emergencies.) The island has roughly 800 residents. Could this be dubbed the Airport to Nowhere?

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