All told, Wasilla benefited from $26.9 million in earmarks in Palin's final four years in office.

"She certainly wasn't shy about putting the old-boy network to use to bring home millions of dollars," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "She's a little more savvy to the ways of Washington than she's let on."

Silver, reached by phone, declined to comment. Maria Comella, Palin's campaign spokeswoman, said the Wasilla earmarks were sought because Palin was "working in the best interests of Alaska, working within the confines of the current system."

Palin became a staunch reform advocate after her 2003 appointment to the state's Oil and Gas Commission. She accused another commissioner, Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich, of raising campaign contributions from industries he was also regulating, "She realized that the environment around her was no longer what it once was, and elected officials were abusing their power," Comella said.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, used to secure earmarks for public nonprofits in Illinois, but he announced last year that he would no longer seek earmarks for any entity. Sen. Joseph Biden, Del., Obama's running mate, co-sponsored $85.6 million in earmarks for 2008, according to one study.

The Palin earmarks came when Stevens was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Young was a senior member of the House Transportation Committee.

Sliver's firm became ensnared in the wide-ranging federal investigation into corruption by Alaska Republican officials. Federal agents reviewed records about its other municipal clients, as well as fisheries companies represented by Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh that were close to Ted Stevens's son Ben Stevens.

Bridge to Nowhere

Ted Stevens is awaiting trial on charges that he accepted more than $250,000 in unreported gifts.

After becoming governor, Palin became a critic of Young and the Stevenses. She has also criticized Ted Stevens.

She also has reversed course on at least one major earmark: After initially supporting the $223 million bridge, which was to connect the town of Ketchikan with a remote island, Palin reversed course last year and canceled the project because of cost overruns. Critics have dubbed the project the "Bridge to Nowhere."

In February, Palin's office sent Sen. Stevens a 70-page memo outlining almost $200 million worth of new funding requests for the state.

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