Palin: Crony Politics and Corporate Welfare for TransCanada

It just keeps getting worse for John McCain's ill-chosen running mate. I told you back in August that Governor Sarah Palin was in bed with TransCanada, handing them 500 hundred million taxpayer dollars not to actually build a natural gas pipeline, but just to seek customers and federal approval for maybe building a pipeline later.

Now the paid journalists at Associated Press uncover the whole unseemly process behind Palin's handouts for Big Canadian Oil: bidding rules crafted to favor TransCanada, TransCanada lobbyists working for Palin, improper communications between the governor and bidders, and all bidders but TransCanada disqualified on technicalities.

But here's the kicker: reporters Justin Pritchard and Garance Burke find six confidential sources and sworn testimony from Palin's pipeline team leader and former TransCanada lobbyist Marty Rutherford that four years ago, TransCanada was willing to build the pipeline with no $500M subsidy from Alaska.

So, Governor Palin redistributes income to a foreign corporation to entice the corporation to do something it already said it can do without government subsidy. "Share the wealth," indeed.