Palin faces new ethics complaint

WASILLA, Alaska, July 8 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin faces a new ethics complaint, this one on claims she filed for staying in her Wasilla home while working in Anchorage, records show.

In February, after a Washington Post article revealed the practice, Alaska officials reversed a policy that permitted the $60 per diem reimbursement as a legitimate, tax-free business expense under the Internal Revenue Code.

Alaska state policy permits reimbursement if a state official travels at least 50 miles from his or her home for state business. Palin's home in Wasilla and the state office building in Anchorage are about 45 miles apart.

In the new complaint filed with the Alaska Office of the Attorney General, Wasilla resident Zane Henning questioned the governor's reimbursement claims for the month of May, since the activities for those days were in Wasilla and Anchorage, the Post reported Wednesday.

In her resignation speech last week and a subsequent posting on Facebook, Palin said the number of ethics complaints filed against her played a role in her decision to leave office at the end of the month. Henning's new filing brings to at least 19 the number of ethics complaints filed against Palin since she took office.

"The taxpayers of Alaska should not have to pay the governor, or any other public official, $60 a night to stay in their own home," Henning told the Post.