Legal. Yes.
Acceptable?: "In the past, per diem claims by Alaska state officials have carried political risks. In 1988, the head of the state Commerce Department was pilloried for collecting a per diem charge of $50 while staying in his Anchorage home, according to local news accounts. The commissioner, the late Tony Smith, resigned amid a series of controversies.
“It was quite the little scandal,” said Tony Knowles, the Democratic governor from 1994 to 2000. “I gave a direction to all my commissioners if they were ever in their house, whether it was Juneau or elsewhere, they were not to get a per diem because, clearly, it is and it looks like a scam – you pay yourself to live at home,”
I did not know that politicians got per diems for driving to their office every day. Do you happen to have a cite? Seems a bit wasteful to me too.
I’m sure I could. But if I wanted to be a “reformer” and that I’m against government waste, I sure the hell wouldn’t.