Blow-Pop-Palin: troopergate

Thursday, October 8, 2009

E-mail? Alaska, get crackin'!

Long wait continues for Palin e-mails
RECORDS: State says it's overwhelmed, but critics cry foul.

Public records requests made more than a year ago for Sarah Palin's e-mails still haven't been filled by the state, and the Alaska Democratic Party chairwoman alleges it's an attempt to bury the past.

"I think they're hiding something, I think this is a travesty of justice,"

state Democratic Party Chairwoman Patti Higgins said Wednesday.
"The law says they have 10 days to do it."

Public records in Alaska are generally supposed to be provided within 10 days, although the state can extend the deadline for more complicated requests.

MORE THAN A YEAR!!!!

This is a travesty of justice.
The state can't work out a way to release them in increments?
If they are in cahoots with her, they would delay and obstruct. She makes everybody look bad and the details will be the kiss of death for some. The people can't find a way to file a class action suit against the state and rogue quitter (who earned no benefits) gov ? It is a crime what all they are doing.

ADN excerpt:

In the request, Higgins sought Palin's schedules and calendars between Jan. 1, 2007, and Sept. 15, 2008. The Democrats also sought various categories of e-mails for about the same time period, including:

• All e-mails between Palin and state Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, or between Palin and state Sen. Fred Dyson, R-Eagle River, with the words "abortion" or "AGIA," which is short for the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.

• All e-mails from Palin containing the following words: babysitter, childcare, McCain, Obama, Democrat, Huckabee, Wal-Mart, Eskimo, Natives, Kuwait, passport, Ruedrich or Kopp.

• All e-mails between Palin and her husband, Todd, with any of the following words: vote, veto, budget, oil, Monegan or Wooten.

• All e-mails between Palin and her sister, Molly McCann, with the words Wooten or Monegan (referring to figures connected with the so-called "Troopergate" affair.)

Another of the pending requests is by Anchorage activist Andree McLeod, who made a request on Oct. 1, 2008, for all of Sarah and Todd Palin's e-mails concerning official business for the previous two years. McLeod reacted to the latest extension by writing state officials Wednesday that

"it now seems Governor Parnell needs to keep Alaskans in the dark."

Jones said "we continue to work hard" to complete review of the records requests"

October 7th, 2009 09:00 PM

Gryphen: "Palin's only defense seems to be hiding behind Facebook, and having her Palin-bots provide cover, until everybody hopefully gets tired of trying to hold her accountable for her actions."

The Palingates: Troopergate
ETHICS COMPLAINTS

Deathgate

The Anchorage Daily News covers Palin?

Levi Johnston, Lori Tipton And Their “Business” at Mat-Su Hospital
"Ice Crystals": Tori Tipton and the Mat-Su Valley

Celtic Diva update:
Update on Records Requests and Emails...nothing has changed under Gov. Parnell
Sat Oct 10, 2009

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Todd and Sarah Palin

A month after she became governor, Sarah Palin's staff ushered Alaska's public safety commissioner into her private office. But Palin wasn't there (where is she now?). Her husband, Todd, had called the meeting. He was frustrated that his former brother-in-law remained on the job as a state trooper, and he prevailed upon the commissioner to get rid of him. "I thought that was odd and made me a little uncomfortable," said Walter Monegan, the commissioner, who later was fired by Gov. Palin. "We 're having it in the governor's office, and he's not the governor. I think he was trying to use state trappings to handle a

personal issue ." The January 2007 meeting was part of a long pattern of pressure that she and her husband applied on state officials to try to get the trooper fired, according to an Alaska legislative report released Friday. The report said those contacts amounted to an abuse of power and a violation of the state's ethics laws, which prohibit using public office for personal benefit . But while the condemnation of now-vice presidential nominee

Sarah Palin was the conclusion, the nearly 300-page report by investigator Stephen Branchflower was more about her husband. Todd Palin, the self- described "first dude" of Alaska, had extraordinary access to his wife's office, her staff and her power. Todd Palin spent about 50 percent of his time in the governor's office, making phone calls , participating in meetings or just hanging out, said Gary Wheeler, a

member of Gov. Palin's security detail. "He had a significant influence, in that he was always interacting with the, the employees there," Wheeler told state investigators. "Any time I needed to get information to the governor, I would always go through Todd." The governor and her staff kept Todd Palin in the loop on a wide range of issues, copying him on e-mails about union matters, public relations and a bill requiring parental consent for abortions . His efforts to get Mike Wooten,

Sarah Palin's sister's ex-husband, fired were extensive. Todd Palin held dozens of meetings and phone calls with state officials, alleging that Wooten threatened the Palin family , was too unstable to be a trooper, and was cheating the worker's compensation system. Todd Palin would not answer a question about the report during a campaign stop Saturday. GOP presidential candidate John McCain's spokesman in New Hampshire, Jeff Grappone, said Palin would not take questions from the media during his visit. But in an affidavit he provided to investigators, he made no apologies. "I have heard criticism that I am too involved in my wife's administration ," he wrote. "My wife and I are very close. We are each other's best friend. I have helped her in her career the best I can, and she has helped me." Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for John McCain's

presidential campaign, compared Todd Palin's role to that of other political spouses. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a vocal player in labor civil rights issues, Hillary Rodham Clinton took on health care while first lady, and Nancy Reagan was a close adviser to her husband. "The role that Todd has played, I don't think is dissimilar from other spouses, and I think it's an entirely appropriate role," Griffin said. "And Todd will play an appropriate role as the spouse of the vice president." The legislative probe began as an investigation into whether Palin improperly fired Monegan for resisting efforts to fire Wooten. The report concluded that Monegan's firing was legal, because Palin had the right to choose her top administrators, but that the pressure Palin and her husband exerted to try

to get Wooten fired was improper. Palin originally pledged cooperation with the legislative inquiry, which was approved by a bipartisan vote of a committee on which Republicans are the majority. After McCain tapped Palin as his running mate, however, accusations of political interference quickly pushed the personnel matter into the national spotlight. Democratic state Sen. Hollis French drew heavy criticism for saying the investigation could provide an "October surprise" for the McCain campaign. That allowed the McCain-Palin campaign to dismiss Friday's report as a political smear. The McCain campaign even issued its own rival report clearing Palin of all wrongdoing. "I think it did turn into a partisan circus," Palin said Saturday in a brief conference call with Alaska reporters. She said

she was pleased that the investigation upheld her authority to fire Monegan. She said she disagrees with the report's finding that she abused her power. Though the committee's report reached some stinging conclusions, it was largely toothless. The Legislature has no authority to sanction Palin for ethical misconduct. That's up to the state Personnel Board, which is running a parallel investigation that Palin is cooperating with.
redux...CNN: Todd Palin acted as "second governor" of Alaska