Halcro ran against Palin and Democrat Terry Knowles in 2006 for Governor.  Halcro is not a reliable source.  He is not loved by either of the party structure, ran as an (I) and got whipped.

This is not a Republican investigation, since Halcro went (I) to run against Palin and Knowles.  This is like saying Lieberman is the voice of Democrats.

But more importantly:

Troopergate is a freakin' non-issue.  Nothing here will impact the election.

Ask Palin about the role of gov't healthcare with regard to securing American mfg jobs.

Ask her about making CAFE standards higher and if she thinks that will contribute to "energy independence."  Why or why not?

Hell, even ask her if she's such a maverick and outsider to not endorse Ted Stevens for AK-Sen if you want to do the politics and not the policy.

According to The New York Times article on the subject, she charged $17,059 from December 2006 - June 2008 (I think that's where they get the 312 days). Doing simple math, that comes out to an average of $54 / day - under the allowed $60 / day per diem. Apparently, under state policy, the first family could have claimed per diem expenses for each child taken on official business but has not done so.

This does seem to be a strange situation, but again, according to the NYT, Gov. Patterson would technically be allowed to do this as well should he choose to do so, so it's not completely out of the question, although unusual.

This should be looked into further if there is really something there, but it does not appear that anything illegal was undertaken.

The per deim thing is even less useful.  I travel on per diem 4-5 days per week, year end year out.  How in the world can anyone make a case it's wrong to take per deims that her employer and the law allow?  It's absurd.  Even if she's "at home", particularly since as Governor, she's officially relocated to the state capital and as a result, being at her "home", an 18 hour drive from Juneau, is now officially travel.

If you want a viewpoint from the other side, try this.

"Obama Partisan Tampers with Palin Subpoena List"

Investigator Steven Branchflower admitted he had ceded control of his subpoena list to Sen. Hollis French (D.) during Alaska's Joint Judiciary Committee September 12 hearing that was scheduled to approve subpoena requests.  French is a partisan who has endorsed Palin's Democratic presidential ticket rival Barack Obama for president and is actively supporting his candidacy.

Senator French is the one who has already publicly called the case "damaging" even though the investigation is ongoing. Is publicly pre-judging a case now a Democratic value?

More:

Further fueling the GOP's fire is the fact that former Commissioner Monegan and state trooper Wooten are surprisingly mild-mannered about this "scandal" that's blown into a national news story after Palin's vice presidential appointment.

Monegan told the Anchorage Daily News on August 30 that he was never pressured to dismiss Palin's former brother-in-law. "For the record," he said, "no one has ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff."

Wooten, for his part, has reportedly turned down at least $30,000 from tabloids hungry for his side of the story. His union, however, the Public Safety Employees Association, filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office, to find out if Wooten's personnel file had ever been illegally disclosed.

The same week PSEA filed their complaint, CNN reported that Obama campaign officials had been contacting Wooten's union, although Obama spokesmen have vehemently refuted CNN's report as well as one from the Wall Street Journal's John Fund that said more than 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researches had been deployed to Alaska to dig up dirt on Palin.

This is where we want to go?

WaPo titles the article Palin Billed State for Nights Spent At Home but even there acknowledges:

She rarely sought food reimbursement when they were in Wasilla.

Flights were most expensive, and by child, the youngest-oldest child went most-least expensive. (Makes sense!)

They delined about $4,500 in per diems for their children's travel expenses, which they are legally allowed to clame.

None of this states she billed the State to "stay at home."  Nada.  They're extrapolating on the airfare from Juneau (inaccessable by road or rail) to Wasilla, which is near Anchorage, Alaska's largest city.

Let's talk Alaska.  It is not Iowa, it is not New Jersey, and it is not even California.  Much of Alaska's territory is in "The Bush" and only accessable by air travel.  The capital is only accessable by air travel (eh, or ferry).  Juneau is not Alaska's largest city, despite being the government seat.  Anchorage and Fairbanks are the largest, and are connected by road (along with Wasilla).

To argue that the Governor flew herself and her family to Wasilla -- between Anchorage and Fairbanks -- is absolutely silly when you account for Alaska's geography and the population density.  

You go to the Iditerod, you fly.  You don't drive, you don't walk, you don't take the non-existant Amtrak.  You have to fly.

Besides:

"Gov. Palin has spent far less on her personal travel than her predecessor: $93,000 on airfare in 2007, compared with $463,000 spent the year before by her predecessor, Frank Murkowski."

Sarah Palin spent twenty percent of Frank Murkowski's air travel expenses.  That's an 80% reduction.

This entire line is a non-starter.  Of course she's going to fly places.  Of course she's going to fly her family places.  And when she is not needed in the capital -- Juneau -- she will stay in her home in Wasilla, where she can drive on her own time and expense to Anchorage -- the largest city.

This whole per diem thing is rubbish, and gives Republicans a reason to crow "Cut taxpayer-funded travel expenses by 80%!"

Palin clearly has a vendetta against Wooten, so much so that the Judge in her sister's divorce case admonished Sarah Palin as well as her family. While she may not have told Monegan specifically to fire Wooten, her surrogates pressured him to do so. And now there is the allegation that the Governor tried to interfere with Wooten's Workers Comp claim.

As far as Obama and Harvard, you obviously have no experience with these types of posts.  No one gets to that position at Harvard law of editor of the law review without great support of his classmates and professors.  No one.  Further, he was self-made, not the son or grandson of an admiral who bought him admission.