Reform Isn't What It Used to Be

A lot of people are pointing out this article in the Washington Post. It details the extent to which Palin was indebted to earmarks. For a town of 6,700 people, she brought in $27 million worth of federal money. I think this highlights the extent to which Alaska is a different political culture than the rest of the United States. They’ve got oil, and lot’s of it. As Ezra Klein points out, “For every dollar they pay in Federal Taxes, Alaska gets back $1.87 back in services.” All of this points out that, to the extent that Palin is a “reformer,” it’s a reformer in an extremely rarified sense. In a political culture as corrupt as Alaska’s, even the reformers aren’t exactly without sin. Alaska seems more like Saudi Arabia or Kuwait than New Jersey – a tiny population dominated by a single powerful industry. And since Ted Stevens has been in the Senate so long (longest serving Republican), he has really been able to bring home the bacon – to a state that’s already well equipped with pork products.